Bullied the other side of the window
by AlexJoSkyler
Summary: Donnie's view of what happens when he get's caught bullying Anthony Gibbs, his older brother's former mentor Dwayne Pride's teenage nephew. Warning will contain corporal punishment of a child and a young adult from chapter 14 onward! if you don't like, don't read.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Disclaimer: I don't own Gibbs, Pride; Lasalle or Tony, they belong to the creator of NCIS. If you haven't read the original Bullied story from Tony's POV it might be a good idea to start there, since that might explain some things.**

 **Update: I just updated this chapter since I wasn't happy with it, at the time I just had to get something out there to be able to publish the rest of the story but now I feel that it's a whole lot better so I hope you can give it a new chance.**

-Bullied-the other side of the window-

-Hey golden boy, you are late for class. I couldn't stop Carl's comment and honestly a part of me didn't want to. Tony might not, at least not yet, deserve to be hurt, but a few comments to make it known that we were above him wouldn't hurt him too much. And even if it would it was for the best of the school and the community. Tony could easily be or at least develop into a threat.

-Patrick, Donnie, James and Carl

At that he got my attention, he hadn't up until now ever called us by our names. And looking closer he had never seemed so calm either.

-Yes?

-If I took the time to learn your real names, you might just want to do the same. For courtesy. His still calmer tone than usual made me shiver. Something wasn't right here and I felt my body wanting to get out of the situation. The halls around us were empty. Not that Tony hopefully could kick all of our asses, but if he wanted to try, I didn't want to be there.

-We know your name. It's Anthony Gibbs aka golden boy. Great idea Carl, poke the angry bear, Donnie thought.

-You were right about the first part. The second part? not so much.

-How is your leg? I asked, deciding to cut off Carl and Tony before this escalated. The other students had made it quite clear last Friday that they wouldn't hesitate to tell on us if we didn't back down and the rate Carl was going that would happen sooner rather than later. Besides, his calmness was really starting to unnerve me.

-Well, thank you for asking Donnie. Not bad.

-Might just have to do something about it then, Carl said and I groaned, praying Tony would back down so Carl would get away with only threatening him and not actually hurting him. I really didn't want my parents to find out about this. Screw that I really didn't want my brother to find out about this. Partly because Tony would get the upper hand and partly because if half of the rumors were true and he really was King's nephew my brother might just kill me.

-Why do you want to hurt me Carl? What have I ever done to you?

-You tried to take my place.

-Are you that insecure? Carl started getting red at that point and I knew that if I didn't step in Tony would be on the floor in less than a minute.

-Everybody calm down, come on man, you can't hit him again, my parents would kill me if they ever knew, I said with a final tone. And so would yours, so calm down. Now.

-I can't take your place Carl, I am not allowed to join any sports since I transferred here for a limited time, Tony continued calmly as if I hadn't even spoken.

-Tell me when that time is up and I'll show you were you can put that crap.

-He is right Carl, if he really isn't here to stay he can't join anything, Patrick clipped in. Finally, somebody who saw reason.

-Still, why did he transfer from Washington if he didn't have a damn good reason.

-He has. He has us. I am Special Agent Pride and this is Special Agent Gibbs. Now I don't know what your rumors said, but Special Agent Gibbs was here for a joint operation inside NCIS.

King. My worst nightmare just came through. My mind went completely blank and for a moment I couldn't do anything else but stare stupidly at my brother's old mentor. Then my body started working again and I straightened up standing at attention. I couldn't run. King had taken one look at me and I saw the recognition in his eyes. The only thing I could do was try to defuse the situation and hope that he never mentioned this to my brother. Ever.

-What the hell man, you told them? Carl asked angrily, being the first one to shake of the shock of seeing the two special agents.

-Didn't give him a choice Carl, Pride stated calmly.

-You know me?

-I know all of you, including and especially you Donnie. Can't imagine what your brother is gonna say when he hears you've been messing with someone, let alone it being a former marine, a nowadays NCIS Special Agents son, **my** nephew.

Any desperate hope I had left of him not recognizing me was thrown out the window and I suddenly started feeling dizzy.

-He'll most likely kill me, sir, I said the respect clear in my forced voice. King suddenly looking a lot less scary made his way over and put a hand on my shoulder effectively steadying me as well as locking his disappointed gaze with mine.

-That's the Donnie I know. You ever gonna mess with another kid again?

-No sir, I promise. I swallowed hard, feeling like crying, the whole thing just seemed so idiotic right now. The fog had cleared from my eyes and suddenly I saw what I had refused to see. Tony was a good kid, he wouldn't hurt this school, if anything he would make this school better. And he would do the same for the people in it.

-I'm gonna hold you to that promise Donnie.

-Yes sir. I am sorry sir. Tony, I'm really sorry, I have no idea how I could be so blind. Special Agent Pride can tell you I don't usually do stuff like this. And the truth was I didn't ever do anything like this, except for now and the only time it had to be King's nephew.

-So why did you? I was initially taken aback by Tony's words before swallowing hard and once again forced myself to speak.

-I listened to the rumors, figured I'd scare you before you did something this school couldn't come back from. I know it doesn't make any difference, nor is it a good excuse, but I was just looking out for this place. My heart was at the right place, but not my head. If I just would have looked a bit closer I'd seen that the only true threat to this place is us who are too quick to judge. I answered honestly. King still kept his hand on my shoulder and I felt myself start trembling which led to him squeezing my shoulder reassuringly.

-All is forgiven Donnie.

-Thank you, Tony.

-You are free to go, without us calling your parents, so long as you never lay a hand on my son or somebody else again. It was the first-time Gibbs had spoken and the words couldn't have been harder.

It was also the first time I even paid attention to him. A marine no doubt and despite his promise to let me go, the weight on my shoulder just seemed to increase. Sighing, I knew there was only one thing I could do if I ever wanted to be able to look King or my brother in the eyes again

-I promise sir. If you don't mind though, I think I'm gonna go turn myself in. What I did, it wasn't fair, and I think I should really take my time to think about it. And if my brother wants to chew me out for what I did, well I think I deserve every single bit of it. And with that I suddenly seemed able to breathe again. For the first time in weeks I truly felt like I was doing the right thing. The thing I was raised to do. I didn't feel so brave anymore when I turned to walk towards the principal's office only stopping when King didn't let go of my shoulder.

-You are a good kid Donnie, just hit a little roadblock in the way, King assured me, features still tense but with a small smile towards me.

-Thankyou sir, I answered and hastily walked away before he could see the doubt in my eyes if the words even were true and especially if he really meant them or felt that he had to tell me it because of my brother being like a son to him.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Thank you so much for reading! Seeing people favoring my stories and me as an author is incredible! Thankyou! Every single comment and sign that you like my work is highly appreciated!**

 **As for the guest who called my writing crap. Point A: it might not be that crappy actually since you seem to believe I am fluent in English, which I've never claimed myself to be, point B: if my writing disturbs you so much I have a simple solution for you: don't read what I write. Besides can't be that bad when I have people favoring my other stories as well as me as an author. So next time you decide to take out your anger on me do everyone a favor and take it out on a pillow instead. I really mean it.**

 **And oh, I switched back to third person since I'm more comfortable writing in that. Last chapter wasn't the greatest so I just hope you will have the patience to read through this story. From now on everything should come much easier.**

Chapter 2

-James Williams, here to meet principal Connor.

-I'll tell him you are here, please take a seat, the secretary said.

James looked around the room and saw 2 teenagers sitting on a line of chairs, none of them having the hair color of his son. Moving his gaze a little further to the right he suddenly spotted a mop of blond hair sitting slumped over in a chair. Hidden by a plant as he was, it was easy to miss him. Stalking over to his son James took in the sight of his youngest son, wondering just what he had done to get himself into this position. Donnie was usually not a troublemaker and the few times he'd actually been in trouble he'd gotten away with detention. Somebody having to pick him up was something totally new. Sighing James decided to just bite the bullet, desperately hoping that his son actually had done something, instead of being the target of that something. With the blond mop of hair in the way James couldn't see his son's face to help him determine which scenario he was in for so he gently placed his hand on the teenager's shoulder.

Startled by the sudden hand on his shoulder Donnie almost flew in the air. Looking up and seeing his dad he quickly looked back down on his hands, not wanting to look his dad in the eye. Too bad for Donnie James didn't give up so easily. Needing to know his son was okay James gently took a hold of Donnie´s chin forcing him to meet his concerned eyes.

-You okay son? James asked gently, keeping his voice low and level.

-Yes sir, I'm fine, Donnie answered biting his lip. The relief was instant: Donnie wouldn't look him in the eye and lie, besides the unnecessary sir on the end told James all he needed to know.

-Sir? James questioned gently.

Donnie heard the real question behind the word; if it really was so bad he had to sir him for something so simple as a question on whether he was okay or not.

-You aren't gonna like it.

-I guessed that when I got the call. James still held his voice low and gentle, almost soothing.

-You have no idea, Donnie muttered, angry at himself and ashamed of his actions. The time he had had to wait for his dad had only served to further make him see the error in his ways. James on the other hand had no problem hearing or seeing how much his son was beating himself up over whatever mistake he had made and made a mental note to keep that in mind when dealing with whatever scenario he was gonna be handed.

-Whatever it is we'll handle it, James said reassuringly.

?

-Bullied the other side of the window-

-So you see we have a bit of a problem here mr. Williams, the principal ended his tale. Glancing at the blond boy he felt bad for having to do what he was about to do, but the kid had taken part in the bullying and rules were rules he couldn't break. School rules state I have to suspend Donovan for at least week no matter the reason. Due to him owning up to the bullying though, I'm only giving him a week, and after listening to agent Pride´s speech about Donovan having the heart on the right place but not the head, I'm confident about my decision.

-We understand, James said calmly. Donnie on the other hand, although expecting something like it was shocked. Suspension. Shaking his head lightly trying to wrap his head around it just made his head hurt worse so he settled on a grimace instead.

-You okay son? James asked for a second time.

Donnie just nodded in affirmative.

-You sure?

-Just a headache dad. I'll survive, Donnie said quietly.

James wasn't convinced and turned to level the principal with a look that spoke volumes. When the principal gave a nod James therefore gently placed a steady hand on his kid's shoulder and guided him out the door.

-Com on kid. Let's get you home.

-Bullied the other side of the window-

Donnie stared at the glass of water and the painkillers his dad sat down on the kitchen table in front of him.

-Take them.

Donnie swallowed the pills obediently and drank the water but kept his head down not wanting to look at his dad. James sighed and took a seat on the seat next to Donnie.

-Look at me Donnie, James said calmly.

Donnie looked at him warily, his eyes hidden by his bangs for all of ten seconds before James gently but with a hint of sternness in it brushed them away. The look that met Donnie's eyes was full of disappointment and he couldn't help but flinch.

-Why?

-I…it was stupid. Donnie tried to avert his gaze from his dad's but James cupped his chin forcing him to maintain eye contact. I…I tried to scare him but it went too far and I…I could have hurt him badly.

James didn't say anything knowing his son would keep the tale going in his own pace. Whatever speed he choose was fine with James since he knew that pushing Donnie only would result in him shutting down completely.

-When Tony first started it was all very sudden. One day he wasn't there and then suddenly the next day he was. Logically, people started asking questions but he just ignored them and changed the subject. Anyway, I got scared. He just seemed so confident and the only reason I could see for such a dramatic beginning was if he had gotten expelled and wanted a fresh start. The football team tried to run over him in gym class like they do with all new students but he amazed everyone when he played just as hard as them and scored more goals than the entire team together. The football team decided to make his life a living hell, and seeing his confidence growing when he embarrassed the whole football team I decided to join them, fearing that he might be able to do damage the school or this city couldn't recover from.

Donnie took a deep breath and searched for confirmation in his dad's eyes that he'd still love him after this. Logically he knew that James already knew the whole story and nothing had seemed to change between them in the last hour, but he just really needed the confirmation.

-Oh Donnie, James sighed and moved one hand to caress the back of his son's head and the other one to rest gently on Donnie's upper arm. You know I love you son, no matter what. Donnie nodded and smiled a little at the words before his face once again became serious as he continued his tale.

-It started with pushes, then developed into full blown fights that left him considerably more hurt. Other people started noticing and demanded us to stop when he already was down on the ground. The weekend came and suddenly on Monday morning he confronted us again but this time he unbeknownst to us had his dad and…King with him. The last words where barely a whisper. Donnie knew how much King meant to his brother, hell his whole family threated the man like a part of the family. Donnie knew…had known him quite well when his brother still lived at home. He and Pride had never had the chance to get close, but Donnie knew the man had looked out for him as well and now he had shown his respect and gratefulness by bullying his nephew. Donnie felt the tears rise in his eyes but wiped them away furiously, they wouldn't help him.

James saw the emotions play on his kid's face and knew he had to step in before Donnie got too worked up.

-King?

-Yeah…

Jamie nodded thoughtfully and Donnie continued in a small voice.

-I know what he did for Nate, it shouldn't matter, what I did was wrong anyhow…but with it being King…

-It just seems so much worse, James ended the sentence.

Donnie looked at his dad with big eyes.

-I know you Donnie, that's the way your brain works. But I also know that I don't have to use my words to explain to you that I would be just as disappointed with you if it was somebody else. But I'm also proud of you for turning yourself in.

-Pride and Tony's dad walked in on us giving him a hard time that is the only reason I turned myself in in the first place.

-I know. I'm still proud of you for doing the right thing in the end.

-Thanx dad…so what happens now?

-As far as I am concerned you are grounded for the foreseeable future. No TV, no computer, no phone, no nothing. Anything else I'll have to take up with your mom before deciding so for right now I want you in your room thinking about how you could have solved this differently. That doesn't mean beating yourself up too bad, you are already doing a great job of that son so just try to look at the facts from another perspective. Donnie just nodded silently and made his way upstairs, his dad was right about the beating himself up part, he was doing a lot of that already. After being caught he had started seeing things differently, the way Tony had interacted with the two adults as well as Tony's standing up for himself had really made an impact on Donnie. Slowly all the earlier scenes with Tony starting from the beginning had started playing in front of his eyes. Just how wrong he had been wasn't hard to see the other time around. It was self-explanatory why Tony hadn't disclosed the reason behind being transferred there, and for him beating everybody in sports just made him good at them, not a treat to anyone's safety. And suddenly Donnie couldn't stop seeing the hurt behind the so carefully put in place mask Tony wore all the time. He couldn't help but see the pain he had caused to the other boy, both physically as well as mentally and he was simply ashamed of himself and his actions.

-Way to go Donnie, he muttered to himself as he closed the bedroom door behind him and slid down until he was sitting with his back towards it. Frustrated, angry, ashamed and desperate to change history Donnie buried his head in his hands and finally let the tears spill.


	3. Chapter 3

Bullied-from the other side of the window.

Donnie practically flew in the air with the knock on his bedroom door but sat down again as soon as he saw that it only was his dad. His parents had talked and decided that as long as he apologized to Tony the grounding along with extra chores around the house would be just fine. And even though both his parents had expressed their disappointment in him they had worked through all of Donnie's insecurities with them. At least that was what they thought.

-Whoa son. Calm down. What has you so worked up? James asked taking a seat next to his son on the bed.

-Nothing.

-Donnie…the voice held just a hint of reprimand in it but remained soft.

-I'm fine dad. Really. When are we picking up Nate? Donnie forced a smile trying to hide his true emotions but his dad just raised his eyebrows not buying it for a second and Donnie swore quietly under his breath.

-So that's what has you on your toes. Your brother.

-I just asked when he's coming dad.

-I know. But I also know you and like it or not I can see when you are lying. And even if I couldn't these past weeks were bound to leave some sort of imprint on you. You are scared of his reaction.

-Not scared really, just not really looking forward to telling him I bullied his old mentor's nephew to the point where he could have gotten seriously hurt.

-You owned up to it.

-Doesn't really matter, does it.

-It does and we have been over this Donnie. His dad's voice turned stern. Donovan, he barked when Donnie refused to look at him.

-I hear you dad, he sighed. It's just…this is foreign territory, I've never been afraid of telling Nate anything, but this is King. You know what King means to him. I'm all about owning up for my mistakes but suddenly I don't feel so brave anymore.

-Old mentor's nephew or not. He still would be chewing you out.

-You don't get it dad. I'm not scared about the chewing out…

-So what are you scared of?

-…

-Donnie-Boy. The voice was just soft now and there was a warm hand rubbing his back comfortably.

-This will without a doubt change how he sees me. What if…what if he doesn't want to be my brother anymore.

Donnie cringed when the hand that just rubbed his back cupped his neck and another hand cupped his chin forcing him to look into his father eyes.

-You really think Nate would ever disown you as his brother?

-If he ever would it'd be now.

-Donnie. You know as well as me that could never happen. No matter what you do.

-If you say so...Donnie said still unsure.

-I do. If you can't find it in you to trust your brother right now then at least trust me and take my word for it. Okay?

-Okay.

-You guys ready? Katherine popped her head through the door and frowned at the sight of her husband and son. Whatever just transpired it couldn't be good. James held his grip around his son's neck and chin a while longer while searching in his eyes.

-Yeah, James finally said and let go, motioning for Donnie to stand up and ruffled his hair fondly before guiding him out through the door.

-Bullied-on the other side of the window-

His nervousness had increased since they got to the airport and Donnie tried hard to make it look like he just was restless even though he saw the look his parents shared.

-Hey little brother. Donnie flew in the air startled and almost hit Nate in the process.

-Whoa there. Nice to see you too little brother.

-Sorry Donnie said, but was already drawn into a bear hug.

-Missed you little brother, Nate said and pulled away slowly. Donnie only took a moment too long to answer, but Nate noticed it.

-Missed you too Nate.

-Really? Because it doesn't sound like it. No miss you too without a doubt and no big brother just Nate. Everything alright between us?

-Yeah. Donnie said and tried to sound normal.

Any answer from Nate was cut off by their parents wrapping him in bear hugs and wishing him welcome home, but Donnie could feel his big brother's eyes never leaving him.

-Bullied-on the other side of the window-

Donnie entered his room later that evening dropping himself onto the bed and running his hands through his hair exhausted from trying to act normal around his brother when he clearly suspected something.

-Okay bro, I think it's time for us to have a little talk, Nate said suddenly stepping out of the shadows.

-What the hell! Nate! You almost gave me a heart attack.

-And that is precisely why we need to talk, Nate said easing himself onto the bed as well. You've been on the edge the whole day, especially around me. What's going on?

-Have you talked to dad yet?

-Not my question little brother, does it make a difference?

-Yes.

-Why?

-Never mind.

-Doesn't work that way and you know it. So now spill.

-Just want now how big my chances of surviving this is.

-Surviving? Nate asked with raised eyebrows. This is worse than dad hinted about.

-So you did talk to dad already, Donnie stated unhappily.

-I asked him what was going on with you and he told me it wasn't his place to tell, but that I should proceed with caution when talking to you.

-That's nice.

-So what's going on?

-You are going to be mad. Madder than ever.

-You know you can tell me. There will never be anything bad enough for you not to tell me, you know that.

-Even if I'd been bullying your former mentor's nephew, a former marine's, nowadays NCIS special agent´s son, to the point where he really could have gotten hurt? Donnie said as fast as he could and got up from the bed to put some space between his brother and him.

-WHAT? You did what? Nate roared just seconds later and got up from the bed as well. Please tell me that's not what you did.

Donnie bit his lip and ducked his head while glancing at his brother under the bangs that effectively shaded his face that moment. Nate bit his own lip and sat down on the bed, forcing himself to calm down when he saw how scared his brother looked. He might not have been able to see his face at the moment but his whole body was tense and ready to flight at any second.

-King? Nate asked careful to keep his voice low and level.

Donnie nodded, backing an extra step. Still hiding his head under his bangs. Nate sighed and took a moment to calm down even more.

-Why don't you come and sit down.

Donnie didn't move.

-Come on little brother have I ever hurt you? Donnie shook his head instantly and blushed when he realised what his brother implied. Good. And I don't plan on starting now so there is no reason why you can't come and sit down. Come on Donnie. Donnie carefully made his way to the bed and sat down on the opposite end of the bed. As far from his brother as possible, not that it made much of a difference when Nate not even ten second later reached out and pulled him to sit next to him.

-Now tell me everything from the beginning, he ordered and brushed away his brothers bangs so he would be able to look him in the eyes the whole time. Knowing Donnie would do much anything to not have to look him in the eyes while telling him the whole story he kept a gentle but firm grip around his chin and the other hand on his upper arm squeezing it reassuringly.

-It all started when there moved a new boy, Tony, here a while back, in the middle of the schoolyear. No explanation given whenever asked so I got worried and wondered what that meant and who he really was. Some jocks gave him a hard time about being better than them in sports so I jumped on. Eager to make sure he wouldn't be a threat to our school or our community.

-By scaring him?

-In the beginning. Then it was mostly pushes and a few comments. A warning that we would be there fighting if he tried something…but he wouldn't back down. That worried the jocks who got scared he might take their places. And that scared me because that meant he might over power us.

-So what did you do?

-It escalated. The pushes got harder and the comments became rumours. Playing any kind of sport near us became a living hell for him. One of us distracting the teacher why the other ones jumped on him.

-Any serious injuries?

-A tackle gone too far made him fall pretty badly on his arm. Which lead to us stepping down a notch. Scared he would tell anybody and over power us again by having the teachers on his side.

-Guessing there is more, Nate said when Donnie hesitated.

\- He told us to back down in public. One of us lost his mind and pushed him hard, nearly gave him a black eye too, but he ducked at the last second and just then somebody else pushed him so he lost his balance and twisted his foot badly. The other students had had enough of it and threatened to tell the teachers if we didn't step back. At that point he was laying on the ground so we backed off.

-Then?

-The weekend came and on Monday morning he suddenly confronted us. Didn't think anything extra off it until King and Tony's dad suddenly showed up behind us.

-What happened then?

-King knows us all and told us so, emphasizing how he knew me especially well. Asking me what I thought you'd do when you found out. I answered him and promised to the never touch another kid again as well as explained my reasons and asked Tony for forgiveness.

-That the whole story? Donnie hesitated a second. He wasn't sure he wanted his brother to know, but chances were he would discuss it with their parents and find it out anyway and then Nate would be even madder.

-Do I have to start calling you Donovan?

-No sir. They gave me a chance to walk away but I decided to turn myself in.

-Good boy. Nate praised quietly before running his hands through his hair and sighing deep.

-I am at loss here Donnie. Why on earth would you do something like that?

-I thought he was a threat to the school. At that point it didn't matter to me who his uncle was. We didn't even know if that was the truth or not.

Nate nodded thoughtfully.

-Never occurred to you there might be another way to handle the situation?

-No sir. I didn't use my brain.

-Well that's something we can agree on…Nate trailed of again choosing his words wisely. His father's words about being careful rang once again in his ears.

-You know I'm disappointed. I don't have to tell you that. And angry. And to be truthful I don't know what I'm feeling right now. Donnie braised himself. Ready for his brother to say he didn't want him as a brother anymore. Unbeknownst to him he tensed even more and unconsciously tried to get away from his brothers never wavering grip.

-Whoa there little brother. I counted on you taking that badly but that shouldn't be any news to you. If I know you at all you've counted on that the whole time so what's going on? Has it anything to do with what dad told me?

Donnie bit his lip and tried to look away. Nate sighed.

-If I let go do you promise to tell me?

Donnie nodded.

-You know you can tell me anything Donnie. Just like before. Just like after this.

-You sure? This doesn't change anything? The voice was small and held a bit of confusion.

-Nothing could ever change what we have.

-You are gonna be mad.

-Try me.

-I kinda thought you'd disown me, it being King's nephew and all.

-Disown you? Nate asked unsure he had heard right. Donnie nodded slightly and Nate pinched his nose before getting up and pacing from one wall to another until he felt calm enough not to kill his little brother. Then he gripped his brother's chins in his hands and forced him to look him in the eyes.

-You ever think that again and I don't know what I'll do but it won't be pretty I can tell you that. King was my mentor, yes. In many ways he was like a second father to me. But he will never be my brother and even though he may mean a great deal to me, that doesn't mean you won't be my brother anymore because you made a mistake. You should now that Donovan. There is nothing that can pull us apart. Did you really think so? I need to know Donnie.

-I'm sorry.

-Not my question.

-King is unknown territory, so yeah. I'm sorry Nate.

Nate didn't answer just wrapped him in a fierce hug and hold on tight for several minutes.

-There is nothing you could ever do to not be my brother-you got it?

-Yes sir.

-Good, Nate said and got up from the bed. You get into that bed. It's getting late.

-Nate! Could you…could you stay? Just a while.

-Yeah sure. With that Nate crept into the bed next to Donnie and carefully positioned his brothers head so it was resting on his stomach. Sleep tight little guy.


	4. Chapter 4

-I know mom and dad told me I have to apologize again, but do we have to do it at NCIS? Nate, please…

-Noup little brother, we don't have to but I thought you would want it off of your plate as soon as possible and the only chance to catch those three during the day is at NCIS.

-But…

-No buts Donnie, we are doing this so get out of the car. Donnie sighed and made his way to Nate's side slowly. There Nate wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulder and drew him close for a side hug for a few seconds.

-Come on Donnie, let's do this. Donnie took the moment when Nate shook the guard's hand as his chance to melt into the shadows. Not that it helped. A few seconds later Nate had a secure grip around his upper arm and firmly pushed him forward and only let go once they had made it inside the building.

-Pride, these young men say they'd like to speak to Tony for a minute. Donnie couldn't help but grimace slightly at that. He wasn't exactly looking forward to seeing Tony again, or agent Gibbs or King for that matter, but since he didn't have choice he took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the guard.

-Hey. He could feel Nate stepping out behind him and couldn't stop himself from slightly tensing when Nate put his hand on his shoulder. Oh yeah, having his brother here would be even worse. Donnie was surprised when Nate stuck out his hand to shake King´s. The pair of them had never been that formal. Not even in the beginning.

-Hey King, Nate now said with a big smile that threw Donnie off even more. King shook his head with big smile of his own playing on his lips and ignored the hand, giving Nate a big hug instead.

-It's nice to see you again King, Nate said as King hugged him and Donnie felt even worse. Thanx to him the reunion between the pair wasn't exactly nice. All because he somehow managed to lose his brains completely.

-Yeah, it's been too long Nate. Too long. Donnie bit his lip and stared at the ground trying to look as if the words didn't hurt him as much as they did.

-Yes sir. Nate said as he stepped away from the hug. Too bad this isn't a social call though. Nate once again gripped his shoulder and Donnie couldn't help but wonder if his brother really thought he would run at this stage of the conversation.

-I could guess that you would get involved since the kid decided to own up for his mistakes even though we gave him a free pass. To quote young Donnie here you'd most likely kill him.

-I almost did sir. He knows better than that. He's a damn better man than that. At that Donnie's mind just went blank. It seemed as if the world stopped around him and he leaned into Nate's strong hold to keep himself upright as he let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. With that and a few quiet big breaths the world seemed to start moving at normal pace again.

-I know. But it's not me you need to convince. King nodded his head toward Tony who stood right in front of his dad with curiosity written on his face.

-Tony, I presume, Nate said and stuck out his hand in a greeting. Tony took it without batting an eye. I'm navy commander Nathan Williams, Donovan's older brother.

-An old friend of mine, King added.

-You are more like a mentor King, you know that. Anyway Tony, I'm really sorry. You might not know me but your uncle knows I keep my promises and I promise you that Donovan never again will hurt somebody the way he did you. The pressure on his shoulder increased and Donnie knew that was his que to speak.

-I really am sorry Tony. There is nothing more to it. I know what I did was wrong no matter what my intentions were. He looked Tony right in the eye and tried to show him just how honest he was.

-I forgive you, Tony said easily.

-You do? Donnie couldn't believe his ears.

-Yeah.

-Thanx, Donnie said quietly. Not that I deserve it Nate who had momentarily released his shoulder now took a new grip squeezing it a bit harder than necessarily. Donnie didn't have to turn around to know that his brother was scowling.

-You said you are sorry multiple times, there is no doubt you regret your actions and you took the consequences even after you could have walked away so there is no need to keep beating yourself up over this anymore, you understand son? King asked Donnie.

-He's right you know. Gibbs said quietly, making Donnie look up at the intimidating man surprised. You made a mistake and you paid for it. You cleaned up your own mess and even more importantly, Tony forgave you. So don't you think it's time you forgive yourself as well? Don't mind you learning a lesson from this, just don't want you beating yourself up too hard.

Donnie bit his lip for a moment before answering the only thing he knew would be acceptable: Yes sir.

-Good boy. All three men praised at the same time and Donnie couldn't help but smile a little.

-It really is fine. I'm not perfect either and they may all be marines but they have their moments too. Don't forget that.

-Thanx Tony.

-Anyway King, we'll get out of your hair now, just wanted to follow up on this myself.

-You are never disturbing me, you know that son, King scolded lightly.

-I know, but we should get going. It was nice seeing you again King. Agent Gibbs. Tony.

-Come over for dinner someday. And take your parents with you. Would be nice meeting them again. Donnie visibly paled at that while Nate nodded his thanx and with that they walked out the door.


	5. Chapter 5

-No way bro, no way. No conscious in the whole world can make me eat dinner with Tony, Agent Gibbs, mom, dad, you AND your old mentor. No way. They had just made it to Donnie's room when he couldn't hold it in anymore.

-Why?

-Because…because of everything. Donnie said defeated. King probably thinks I'm a brat and wonders how the hell we could even be related, Agent Gibbs hates me, I mean why wouldn't he after what I did to his son? Tony thinks I'm an idiot and eating dinner with you, mom and dad is already a living hell.

-Slow down…Nate said and grabbed his brother by his upper arms to try to force him to stop pacing around the room. When he actually took a deep breath, and focused on Nate again, Nate quirked his eyebrows. A living hell?

-Well almost, Donnie mumbled and tried to take a step backwards but was stopped.

-Really?

-Boys! Lunch is ready…Katherine stopped dead in her tracks once again taking in the scene. Is there a problem?

-No ma'am, Donnie said and glared at Nate daring him to say something about the invitation or what just had transpired.

-Nate? Katherine asked not fully convinced.

-We got an invitation to eat dinner with… Nate started, ignoring his younger brother´s glare, but was cut off by his phone ringing.

-Hello?

-Yes, sir absolutely. In fact, mom is right here so if you hold just a second I will let you speak with the master chef in question, but I'm sure she doesn't have anything too big of a deal planned already.

-Who is it? Katherine asked taking the phone.

-King. She nodded and turned and walked out of the room phone to her ear.

-What did you do that for? Donnie asked accusingly glaring at his older brother.

-You wanted me to lie to mom, dad AND King? Nate asked with raised eyebrows. Donnie didn't even bother to answer just turned away from his brother and stared out the window hoping Nate would just leave him alone. No such luck though. I am talking to you little brother.

-Something up Donnie? James asked coming into the room.

-No sir, everything is good, Donnie answered without looking away from the window. James didn't even react at that just stalked over to his youngest son and wrapping him in a hug from behind him and at the same time whispering low into his ear: you know I don't like it when you are lying to me. Donnie cringed at that and fought against his dad's grip until he finally let go. Turning towards him he offered a sheepish:

-I'm sorry.

-Make sure it doesn't happen again, James said sternly before rubbing his youngest cheek with his thumb at the same time effectively maintaining eye contact with him. Care to tell me the truth?

-It's stupid dad. It was a last attempt to make his dad let the matter go.

-You know I want to hear it anyway.

-King wants us to come over for dinner, Donnie answered defeated.

-King?

-Yeah with Tony and his dad as well, he muttered trying to break the eye contact but not succeeding.

-Hmm, I think I'm starting to see the real problem.

-He's scared they still are angry, dad. You know he doesn't know King as well as we do. And he said it's enough of a living hell to eat dinner with just us every night which translated from Donnie language to English means he thinks everybody still is disappointed in him so he can't stand being near us, Nate said. Donnie closed his eyes hoping he had heard wrong and that his brother hadn't actually told their dad that particular piece of information.

-Yeah, I'm quite familiar with the Donnie language. Donnie-son, look me in the eyes.

-What? Donnie asked confused opening his eyes.

-Look me in the eyes, James repeated patiently keeping his hands lightly on his son's shoulders. What do you see?

-Concern. The answer was instant and Donnie suddenly felt ridiculous. Sure, Nate was still not over it, but his parents were, and he knew his brother would come over it too at some point.

-Son, you were punished already and there is no need for us to keep a grudge against you for one mistake. You hear me son? We aren´t angry anymore. Everything is fine between us if you just let it go.

-Yeah bro, just like King and Agent Gibbs said you need to forgive yourself, okay? Even Nate sounded more concerned than anything.

-Okay, I'll try, Donnie agreed.

-And we'll help you, James said drawing his son close in yet another hug. This time Donnie didn't protest, just let himself melt into the strong arms, finally letting the thought of him disappointing his parents go for good.


	6. Chapter 6

Bullied chapter 14

Donnie felt almost overwhelmed by nervousness as he and his family stood on the porch to Prides house. As he heard the already familiar steps of King on the other side of the door the urge to just run hit him and he probably would have if it hadn't been for the hands of his older brother gently, yet firmly squeezing his shoulders.

-Welcome, King greeted with a big smile the second he opened the door and stepped back with an inviting gesture.

-Thanx, James said and smiled before stepping in and wrapping Pride into a quick hug. After that the Katherine stepped forward and greeted Pride. Nate smiled a little before stepping back and pushing Donnie towards Pride. Donnie threw Nate a murderous glare as he stumbled forward and was steadied by Pride. Eyeing Pride with a lot of mixed emotions clear in his eyes he just bit his lip before looking down at his shoes and mumbling a greeting. Pride smiled sadly before gazing over at Nate who gave a small nod.

-You are forgiven son, we told you that, so no need to be scared around us. While talking Pride had gently brought Donnie's chin up with his hand and was now looking directly into the teenager's eyes. When Donnie finally nodded Pride wrapped his arms around him and hugged him close. When he finally let go Nate stepped into Pride's arms for an even longer hug.

-James Williams, James presented himself and shook hands with Gibbs. This is my wife Katherine, and I believe you've already met our boys, he said with a sad smile, something Donnie didn't miss as he awkwardly stood weighing at his feet in the middle of the hallway.

-Jethro Gibbs.

-Anthony Gibbs. Please call me Tony, Tony said with a warm smile and extended his hand once the grownups had shaken hands. James was taken aback for a second before shaking Tony's hand and giving him another one of his sad smiles.

-It's nice to meet you Tony. Just wished the circumstances were different, and I want to offer you my sincerest apologises for Donnie's behaviour. Donnie couldn't help but grimace at that.

-All forgiven sir. At that James' sad smiled was exchanged to a lot warmer one for a few seconds.

-Thankyou Tony.

-The same goes for me, Katherine said and shook Tony's hand as well.

-As I said mam, all is forgiven. Hey Donnie, Tony continued and nodded towards him.

-Hey Tony, Donnie answered with a small smile. Tony was strangely enough the least intimidating one in the room even though it was he who had had to witness Donnie's poor choices first hand.

That only left Gibbs and Donnie. Donnie felt himself starting to panic when the older man took a few determined steps towards him. Before he could start to back away tough he was caught in one of Gibbs's famous glares and was unable to look away. Startled he tried to take a step back to break the eye contact but found himself locked in place by two strong hands who just minutes later pushed him into Gibbs's strong embrace. No doubt Nate's doing. And even though he tensed at first Donnie, after only a few seconds, found it impossible to not melt into the strong arms.

-Don't like repeating myself son, so you better start believing that you are forgiven, Gibbs growled low into Donnie's ear.

Donnie nodded into Gibbs´s chest and let himself be held a moment longer before gently taking a step back from the embrace. Gibbs however kept a firm hand on Donnie's shoulder a while longer, searching Donnie's eyes for something before gently squeezing the shoulder once and then let go of his grip. Donnie smiled up shyly at Gibbs, unshed tears of relief in his eyes.

-No more tears kiddo, Gibbs murmured low and gently wiped away the single tear that had fallen. Okay?

-Yes sir.

-It's Gibbs kid. Not really fond of the whole sir thing.

-Yes Gibbs, Donnie said and smiled warmly. James smiled gratefully at the other man. Thankful that he had forgiven Donnie so easily. Nate shared a look with King, his second father and smiled. King on the other hand reached out and ruffled his hair fondly. Donnie watching the interaction couldn't help but smile. Suddenly everything wasn't looking so grim.


	7. Chapter 7

-So it all started a couple of years back when I was 14, Nate started the story once everyone was seated. Chris had come a few minutes after Donnie´s family and Donnie realized how much he'd missed everyone. King and Chris had been a constant part of his life when he had been younger but they had lost contact when Nate got deployed. Not that he had been really close to either of them, but always wished he had been. And now he had screwed that up too. The chance of him ever getting close to the man that was Tony's uncle or the man that was like an older brother to Tony seemed to be almost zero. At least in Donnie's mind.

-That's more than a few Nate, Donnie intervened teasingly out of habit and smiled a little when he heard Tony snicker quietly. He guessed Tony wasn't used to this friendly banter between brothers since it seemed that he was an only child.

-Yeah, yeah, throw it in my face little brother Nate threw back good heartedly. Anyway, the whole story started when dad got deployed again, something that didn't sit so well with me so I started protesting by hanging out with the wrong gang and from there everything just spiraled until I by chance met King, which by the way wasn't one of my brightest moments.

 _~flashback~_

 _-Are you sure we should be here? Nate whispered worriedly._

 _-Calm down would you, nobody will notice us and besides, what's the fun without a little danger? Nate didn't agree with Jake but didn't want to be left behind either so he followed his friends into the abandoned part of the port, the part all grownups warned their children about. This side of the port was dark with one single light flickering, most windows to the abandoned buildings were hammered shut with boards crisscrossing them and every now and the water somehow seemed darker too. Nate unconsciously stepped closer to the rest of the gang as they came to a stop._

 _-Here it is. With that two of the other boys opened the door and swept their flashlights over the dusty interior. An old desk and some empty bookcases suggested that it once had been an office, but there was nothing else in the room which made Nate even more unsure of if they should be here in the first place. An old door slamming shut somewhere further down the street made all the boys jump but nobody refused to show the fear they all feared._

 _-It should be in here, Jake said. Remember Matt said we could take some for ourselves too as payment._

 _-Take what? Nate asked. He couldn't keep quiet anymore, he had a growing suspicion about what they were doing here, but he couldn't be sure. What are you talking about? Jake?!_

 _-Com on man, calm down a little would you. Just a few recipes for happiness that's all. I forgot you didn't knew that my brother asked us to deliver them to him. An old buddy of his left them here. If anybody asked we had no idea what the packages were so whatever happens, stick to the story; okay?_

 _-Dude, I may have done a lot of stupid shit lately, but I am no drug dealer, Nate whispered angrily._

 _-Well either you do this our way or you won't have to bother doing anything with us at all. Your choice, but once you walk out that door you can't come back and you are on your own. Nate drew a sharp breath. Sure, he was angry, but how much was he willing to risk, even more important how much was he willing to lose?_

 _-I'm leaving. Nate felt relieved when the words were out there. Not giving himself a chance to change his mind he walked towards the door without looking back._

 _-Wait! Gabe shouted after him sounding almost desperate. Uncertain Nate turned back around._

~Flashback~

-Drugs? You were involved with drugs? Donnie asked bewildered.

-You haven't heard the whole story yet, Nate said calmly. So as far as you know I could have walked away.

-But you turned away, Tony protested before blushing. Sorry.

-It's okay Tony. I would probably have thought the same if I were either of you.

-How…?

-How I knew Donnie was thinking the same? I know him Tony, to the same degree as King knows me. After all he taught me long ago to ask the right questions. Thanx to that I grew closer to my little brother here. Donnie felt himself blush when all eyes turned on him.

-I still can't see you with drugs Nate. I knew you made some mistakes and got involved with the wrong crowd, but drugs?! I thought maybe graffiti or breaking windows or stuff.

-Couldn't believe it myself either, that's why I tried to leave.

-Tried?

-You'll see, Nate smiled teasingly. And as far as the other stuff goes, never said I didn't do that either.

-Why don't we just listen to the rest of the story, Kathrine proposed.

~Flashback~

 _-We need a lookout! Gabe sounded almost desperate as he turned towards Jake. He can be our lookout. If he doesn't want anything to do with the drugs, he doesn't want to have some either. Lookout is the perfect job._

 _-Okay Williams you are lookout, but don't expect any of the drugs as payment._

 _-Would never, he answered shortly before turning around and focusing on trying to see something through the dirty windows. Truth to be told he was kind of relieved that he hadn't had to walk around by himself in this part of the port. The water hadn't looked too inviting and that would have been his only option in a dangerous situation. Sighing he looked out the window for a couple of minutes before movement in the building across from theirs caught his eye._

 _-Guys! There is movement across the street. I don't know what it is or who it is, but you better start hurrying! For once they actually listened and Nate held a close eye on the movements until he heard Jake call out to him that they were leaving through the back door. Thankful to be able to leave his post as watch dog he jogged to the back of the house were the others just were leaving. Outside the wind had started blowing even more and they all started walking faster. Crisscrossing through the streets to shake of the feeling of being followed. Slowly the fog started rolling in from the sea and visibility got worse until Nate barely could see the others anymore. The feeling of somebody following them got increased and he speed up is pace thinking about calling out to the others, but assuring himself they were just ahead. Unbeknownst to him he was walking closer and closer to the edge and was about to fall into the water when somebody suddenly grabbed him. He fought hard to be freed and was about to shriek when the person covered his mouth and started backing up slowly._

 _-Had to rescue one King, didn't have a choice, the person said. Yes sir. After that the silence fell. Nate still tried to wriggle free when he suddenly heard the same voice say:_

 _-Now I don't know who you are but I am a federal agent so I would stop wriggling if I were you. Nate stopped didn't stop struggling and suddenly felt cold metal against his body._

 _-Get in, a new voice said. Nate shook his head furiously and the other man sighed before suddenly turning on a flashlight and showing him his badge: NCIS senior special agent Dwayne Pride. Then he reached out and grabbed the badge from the one that was holding Nate: special agent Christopher Lasalle. Now can you get in?_

 _Back at the headquarters he was pushed into a chair in a big room with two messy desks in it._

 _-So son, you know our names so how about you tell us your name and just what you were doing out there? King asked. Nate just stared straight ahead stubbornly._

 _-Com on son, you are already in trouble. Nate still refused. Okay Chris, search his pockets._

 _-What? You can't do that!_

 _-Nathan Williams,14, goes to 9_ _th_ _grade in New Orleans Middle School, Chris said as he fished up Nate's student ID from his pocket._

 _-Hey! That's mine, give it back._

 _-No chance buddy, Chris said and held the ID out of Nate´s reach with one hand and kept Nate firmly on the chair with the other hand. Not 'til we figure out who we should deliver you to. Thinking your parents will be real happy to get you back in one piece._

 _-Won't be long I stay in one piece, Nate muttered angrily._

 _-And why is that, son? King asked._

 _-Mom is a real momma bear, Nate answered quietly. She will chew me out good but make me wait until the morning when she actually has slept some._

 _-What about your dad? King asked with caution._

 _Nate just stared straight ahead, jaw set and a stubborn look over him, but King could easily see the real boy behind the though act and the hurt he masked with anger. He gave Chris a look that sent him straight for the computers. A long minute later he put his findings on the plasma for King to read out loud._

 _-Nathan James Williams, 14, younger brother Donovan. Mom, Katherine working as a nurse. DAD, James Williams, deployed overseas…that's what you are trying to keep from me?! That your dad is a marine deployed overseas?!_

 _Nate just stared straight ahead but the mask had started falling off and the hurt and sadness was now easy to read of the youngster's face._

 _-Hard to have a marine dad, huh? First he is deployed and then when he comes home he is tough as nails._

 _-How would you know?_

 _-Well firstly I am a former marine, secondly, I have a daughter who likes to remind me of those exact facts each time I see her._

 _-Daughter?_

 _-Lauren, 19. She always told me it was unfair that first I wasn't home and then when I finally were I didn't light up the least._

 _-Tell me about it…, Nate muttered. Dad is great, when he is home and a couple of years ago he told us it was going to be his last mission but now suddenly he got called in for a special assignment overseas and nobody knows how long he'll be and it's just…it's unfair._

 _-That why you were on the wrong part of the port today? To mess with your parents' head? To rebel?_

 _-Yeah, okay, maybe._

 _-Look I get that it's hard but doing stuff like that won't make it easier, Chris said. You'll always have to go home and face them. Making them worry will only make it harder._

 _-What were you doing in the port today? King asked, changing his voice completely. I know you weren't alone so you can skip lying about that._

 _-I…I didn't know. Sometime in the last few minutes Nate had suddenly started listening and contemplating whether his idea had been good or not._

 _-What were you doing Nathan?_

 _-Somebody left something for an old friend in one of the buildings. We were there to pick it up for somebody's older brother. I didn't know that until we got there and refused to do it so when I tried to leave they made me stand guard instead._

 _-What did you think you were doing in that old port from the beginning?_

 _-I thought we were just rebelling against our parents or something. Playing cool. I had no idea._

 _-These your "friends" from tonight? Chris asked, showing pictures of the other guys._

 _-Yeah, Nate only hesitated for a minute._

 _-Good choice telling the truth because they already turned on you._

 _-What?_

 _-NOPD picked them up after we found you. We kept a close eye on you all until you somehow started walking the wrong way and nearly jumped into the water. Thankfully for you, Chris saved you in the last second._

 _-That's why you grabbed me? Nate could feel his head starting to spin with this new information. Wait, who are you really? I mean what is NCIS? Where you the ones following us?_

 _-NCIS stands for Naval Criminal Investigation Service. We were on a stakeout and you and your friends interfered with our plans._

 _-King here almost choked on his coffee when he saw you._

 _-Sorry…, Nate said shyly, the situation starting to dawn on him._

 _-We tried to make sure you wouldn't get hurt so yeah we followed you and you are lucky we did._

 _-Thankyou for saving me, hope I didn't hurt you, Nate said looking at Chris shyly._

 _-No problem, just happy I was there._

 _-So what happens now?_

 _-We take you home as soon as you have told us everything you know._

 _-Bullied the other side of the window-_

 _-But I don't know anything, I swear! Please just let me go, Nate pleaded desperate to get out of the situation he had found himself in._

 _-You may know more than you think son, now why don't you start from the beginning._

 _-A few nights ago Jake, Jacob Spencer, approached us with an idea to go to the old port a few nights later. At that time he didn't tell us why or how so I just assumed that we just were going to go there to give our parents a scare. The following night Jake…Jacob texted me the meeting location and time and asked if I was in or out. I decided to go for it and we met just off the old road and went by foot. Then all off the sudden everybody stopped and Jacob told us this was it, we went inside and he for the first time mentioned the drugs. The rest seemed to have known so I guess he deliberately left me out of the loop. He told us an old friend of his brother Matt, Matthew I think his real name is, had left them there. That's all I know. I stood guard after Gabe, Gabriel Acardi, convinced Jacob we need one when I wanted to leave. Jacob told me I wouldn't get any drugs, which I was totally okay with since I didn't want them in the first place. For all I know they could have taken them or left them, we went out the back way after I got concerned when I saw some movement on the second floor of the building across from ours._

 _-That would have been us, Chris stated and Nate couldn't help but glare a bit at him for that._

 _-You scared me half to death, he challenged._

 _-And you shouldn't even have been there, King countered with a voice that said the discussion was over. Now have you ever met this Matt or Matthew?_

 _-One time at their house._

 _-You think you would recognize him?_

 _-Sure he stood out a bit from his buddies with his auburn hair so it should be pretty easy._

 _-His buddies? They were at his house?_

 _-Yeah. Jacob said their parents were away on some trip so the house was theirs._

 _-Son, do you recognize anyone from this picture?_

 _-Yeah, that's Matt no doubt and those two I recognize, I think he called the left one Andy and the right one Jackson or Jason or Jeremiah something._

 _-Do you recognize the third one?_

 _-Never seen before. Why are you asking me this? Has this something to do with your stakeout?_

 _-Seems you got a bit too close to it yeah. Is that all you can think off?_

 _-Yeah I thinks so…wait a second, Andy had a jagged scar on his right upper arm, told me he cut himself while playing football on a field. Apparently, he cut it on wire. That's at least what he told me._

 _-That all?_

 _-Yeah, sorry I couldn't help you more._

 _-It's us who should thank you kid, now let's get you home before your mom worries herself to death._

 _Nate knew it was stupid but he got a chance and took it, when Chris went to get the car keys and King to fill up his coffee mug again. He spurted off his chair and took off towards the door. He didn't get too far though before he was stopped by King who suddenly appeared in front of him seemingly from nowhere._

 _-You hold it right there Nathan. Don't go do anything stupid now, King said._

 _Nate furrowed his eyebrows in confusion before getting what King was talking about and blushed. Blushing even more he held his arms up in the air to show them he wasn't about to do anything. King was the first one to reach him and took a hard grip around his shoulder glaring down in his eyes. Nate gulped, this man was clearly not someone you wanted to mess with._

 _-Chris since it seems we can't trust Nathan here not to run off I think you'd better cuff him._

 _Nate paled but let himself willingly be cuffed, mostly because King never let go of his gaze. There was something with King that made Nate obey him, he couldn't put his finger on it but it was something special._

 _-Good boy, King said once Chris had handcuffed him without any problems. Now I trust you to stay here with Chris until I get my coffee, understood?_

 _-Yes sir. Nate frowned at the response that came out of his mouth of sheer habit and cursed his parents for teaching him respect from such a young age. Brainwashed…he muttered to himself._

 _-Don't know who you are hinting about being brainwashed but from your frown I am guessing that that yes sir just came a little bit too easy and that it was mostly out of habit, Chris chuckled which earned him a glare from Nate._

 _-Do you ever stop talking?_

 _-Noup. You know I grew up in Alabama so I know how you feel about the whole brainwashed thing._

 _-You do?_

 _-Believe him he does, I always have to stop and check his reaction to his own yes sir to know if he really means it or not, King teased lightly. Do you have the keys Christopher?_

 _-Your real name is Christopher?!_

 _-Do you have a problem with that?_

 _-No, no problem, Nate snickered as he settled himself into the backseat of the NCIS vehicle._

 _-You better make that statement real incredibly fast or you'll regret it, Chris threatened._

 _-Leave him be Chris, I'm sure he has a nickname as well._

 _-Nate, Nate surprised himself by telling them without a fight._

 _-Guess it's Nate from now on then._

 _After that they rode in silence until Chris stopped outside the familiar white house just minutes away from the NCIS headquarters._

 _-Nice, Chris whistled impressed._

 _-Watch your head, was the only thing King said as he helped him out of the vehicle._

 _-Please, you don't have to do this, Nate suddenly begged coming to a sudden stop on the driveway._

 _-Nothing you say or do is gonna change my mind son so you better keep walking. With that King once again signalized that the conversation was over._

 _-Making it up the stairs to the front door King rang the doorbell and Nate suddenly extremely aware of his surroundings and the fact that he was in handcuffs started struggling but stopped as soon as he felt King´s gaze land on him. Shifting his focus back on the door when he saw the door knob turn he didn't think anything could be worse than it already was. But it could. As the door opened he could only stare surprised at the person behind it._

 _-Dad?!_

 **A/N: for some reason this last part didn't make it into the published chapter. It was published in the bullied chapter but not here. Sorry guys for the consusion. It took some time but I found it all of the sudden.**


	8. Chapter 8

_-Nathan, Nate, buddy come on. Focus son, try to focus. Take deep breaths. Nate could hear his dad's voice but had trouble focusing. He had felt the world start to still before suddenly starting to spin around him. His dad's voice slowly helped him focus and when he finally did the first thing he saw was worry in his eyes. Smiling sheepishly he offered an explanation:_

 _-Haven't eaten in a while, probably low blood sugar. Nobody answered and Nate saw the worry in his dad's eyes change to calm anger once he knew his son was somewhat okay and he stepped back once again._

 _-I am guessing you are Nate's dad, Pride stated calmly._

 _-Yes. I just came home from deployment. And you are?_

 _-NCIS special agent Dwayne Pride, this is special agent Christopher Lasalle. Do you mind? Pride asked and nodded to the inside of the doorframe._

 _-No of course not, excuse my manners, having my son brought home by federal agents wasn't how I pictured my homecoming. Stepping into his own hand in handcuffs he could see both his mom staring worriedly from the doorframe to the kitchen and his little brother peeking down at him from the top of the stairs. Lowering his gaze and stubbornly biting his lip he reminded himself that in a way this was exactly what he had wanted, to make his dad suffer for breaking his promise to them, no matter the cost. Kicking of his shoes he focused his angry eyes on his dad and saw to his delight that he was taken aback by the fire in his eyes. But he also felt a stab of pain when he saw his mother's worried eyes and his little brother's scared ones. Softening his features he looked up at his brother with calm and reassuring eyes._

 _-It's okay Donnie, nothing to worry about, alright buddy. Everything is fine. Just go upstairs, okay? I'll come see you later, pick out a good book for us to read, okay? I'll be there. Trust me. Nate could see his parent's eyes shine with pride for a moment, before again going back to angry and worried. Chris on the other hand was catching flies with his mouth and King looked pretty surprised for a moment._

-Flashback-

-Come on I wasn't catching flies with my mouth, Chris argued. I was only surprised how you changed from this angry teenager trying to make his parents suffer to the best big brother in the world in a matter of seconds.

-I never tried to hurt Donnie, Nate explained softly. Sure, I wanted to mess with my parents, especially dad, but not Donnie. He hadn't done anything to deserve it.

-I remember that. It was one of the few times I actually did as you asked me to even if it wasn't my bedtime yet.

-Good boy, Nate praised making Donnie blush and everybody else laugh.

-Want to leave it there or keep going? King asked Nate and Donnie prayed for his brother to keep going. He had never heard the story and didn't think he would get a second chance at hearing it.

-I'll keep going, can't end the story this close to the end or my brother wouldn't stop pestering me about it, Nate answered with a wink.

-Flashback-

 _Nate broke the spell by turning towards Chris with a raised eyebrow. King correctly interpreting Nate's gesture and nodded his approval for Chris to remove the handcuffs._

 _-Don't think he'll try to flee at this point._

 _-He tried what?! Nate couldn't help but wince slightly at his dad's angry demeanor._

 _-He tried it once, didn't get far though, King explained calmly. Put the handcuffs on mostly to teach him a lesson. Seeing her husband's anger Katherine intervened:_

 _-Katherine Williams._

 _-NCIS special agent Dwayne Pride, this is my partner special agent Christopher Lasalle._

 _-Nice to meet you ma'am. King would you mind?_

 _-Not at all Christoph, I'll walk, this might take a while. Nodding his head Chris excused himself. Once the door closed they all took a seat in the living room._

 _-Do you want to tell them son? Shaking his head and once again looking down stubbornly Nate listened as King started the tale._

 _-Me and my partner were on a stakeout this evening at the old port when we all of the sudden saw a group of kids entering one of the houses we were keeping an eye on. At that point we didn't know their intentions but decided to follow them. Your son saw us and the group made it out the backdoor of the building. Too bad or actually lucky for your son we guessed their move and were able to follow them. The fog started rolling in and the visibility was really poor so your Nate got lost from the group. Chris luckily followed him and grabbed him just as he was about to step right of the edge and into the water. He got your son to the car where I waited for them and we took him to NCIS for questioning. NOPD picked up the rest of the gang. He told us everything we wanted to know including his reasons, and was really cooperative until he tried to run when we were about to take him home._

 _-Son?_

 _-I was with a group of friends, thought we were there to just have fun. Turned out we were there to pick up drugs for somebody's big brother._

 _-He didn't take any. He stood guard after being convinced not to leave._

 _-Why were you there? Nathan!_

 _-I was hanging out with some friends, Nate said stubbornly._

 _-Do you mind? Pride asked. Nate saw his parents looking at each other before shaking their heads. He was bound to hear about this later._

 _-He didn't know they were about to deliver drugs to one of his friend´s big brother. He only came there to get back at you for going on deployment. He tried to leave but one of his other friends didn't want him to leave by himself so Nate got convinced into standing guard instead. He had no drugs on him when he picked him up and I don't believe he even touched them. When we tried to find out who his parents are he told us his momma bear probably would be angry. When we asked him about his dad he shut down completely and Chris used the information on his student ID to find out that you were a marine. I was one myself and have a daughter so we started talking and he told me the only reason he was there was to mess with your heads. He is angry you got deployed._

-Flashback-

-So King spilled all my secrets and he helped me and dad start talking again. After that he just stuck around, kept an extra eye on me. And here I am today so the tale ended with happily ever after, Nate smiled finishing the story.

Everybody chuckled at that but Donnie was a bit disappointed with the ending and decided to ask Nate about the rest of the story when they made it home. He could guess that Nate wanted to keep some parts private at least in front of Chris, Tony and agent Gibbs, but he wasn't sure Nate wanted to dig in the past more than once.


	9. Chapter 9

-You seem to know your way around here, Tony commented with a small smile when the two boys later that night made their way upstairs to Tony's bedroom while the grownups stayed downstairs talking.

-I've been here a couple of times with Nate, Donnie explained. It was when I was younger though so a few things have changed. He tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

-That's understandable. This here is my room right now.

-The old guestroom where Nate used to stay. Donnie didn't know how he felt about that but guessed he'd have to live with it. His brother wouldn't mind so why should he.

-He stayed overnight?

-Yeah more than a couple of times. The time Nate told us about wasn't the last time dad had to go away. Seems there is one type of mission he and a couple of others are the only one that can do.

-That must be hard.

-At times. Donnie didn't tell him just how hard life was when his dad wasn't around.

-Does he still leave for assignments?

-They are usually short, but yeah, every now and then.

-So you grew up with my uncle around? Tony asked after a few minutes of silence.

-My brother did, I just happened to be close by at times. It got harder and harder not to let Tony know how much he wished that King had been around even after Nate got deployed.

-Was he nice to you though?

-It's your uncle shouldn't you know him well enough to know that he always is nice to others. Donnie grimaced at the hardness of his voice and saw Tony flinch a bit.

-Well most of the time. Unless you do something.

-He can be angry? He wasn't even mad at my brother back then. He had actually never seen or heard King really angry. Another thing he'd missed out on. He felt stupid but he was jealous. Jealous of Tony and his brother who got to hang out with King. All he was to King was Nate's stupid younger brother. Somebody he hadn't bothered coming around for when Nate deployed. He didn't know why but in a way it made him feel worthless. And stupid for even caring. King had no obligation against him. They had no real history.

-He usually is pretty calm, but anger isn't the worst thing. Disappointment is.

-Tell me about it. No matter how many times everybody reassures me that we are fine I still seem to have this big cloud of disappointment hanging over me.

-Are you sure that it isn't just your imagination. I mean I heard my dad and uncle downstairs, they have forgiven you and I've seen your parents the whole night and I just don't see the disappointment there.

Donnie didn't answer him. They may have forgiven him but he still didn't feel comfortable hanging out around them. Especially King who'd he swore he would stop hanging around like some lost puppy. He'd just have to avoid him from now on.

-Your dad seems nice.

-Yeah he is when he is home.

-You sound just like your brother, Tony chuckled softly.

-He taught me most of his tricks. And words.

-Did he ever teach you how to climb out of this window?

-Don't think that is the best idea, and no I don't think he ever did it. Now Donnie was laughing a bit too. Tony clearly tried to lighten up the mood and it worked.

-Okay, how about we do something less dangerous instead.

-Like what?

-Like mess with Chris' drink or something. Spice it up a bit.

-Prank Christopher Lasalle? Chris wasn't King, he could live with that. Sure he'd seen his fair share of Chris too when he grew up but it wasn't him he wished he'd had the chance to hang out with.

-Yeah. That's what big brothers are for I guess.

-Well partly. And partly to chew you out.

-Tell me about it.

-Has Chris ever...? Donnie asked surprised.

-Chewed me out? I wish I could answer no, but yeah he has. More than once. Donnie gaped at that.

-Okay, if you are sure of what you are doing I am in. As revenge.

-Yes! Let's head down to the kitchen, we'll ask them if they want coffee yet with the excuse that we want some dessert. They are gonna make us do all the hard work though, but that will work out perfectly. After indeed being told that the only way to get dessert was to cook them coffee, Tony started rummaging around in the cupboards making a bit of a mess in his search for the right things.

-Hmmm not to judge you or anything but from what I can remember King was a freak when it came to his kitchen.

-Yeah, well you haven't thrown your best puppy dog eyes at him yet. Do you want to fix one for your brother as well?

-Yeah, I guess, why not. Tony smiled brightly at him and added pepper and a bit of hot sauce into their brothers' cups of coffee before handing everybody a cup and sitting down.

-Are you sure you know how to use the coffee maker? Chris asked suspicious. This smells kind of funny.

-Mine smells like coffee, King stated and when even Gibbs took a sip of it and didn't say anything Chris seemed to give up.

-See, what did I telltell you? Don't you think I've been living long enough with that coffee addict to know how to make a decent cup of coffee?! Donnie could keep the smile off of his face but not from his eyes.

The next second both Nate and Chris got up from the table and rushed over to the kitchen sink. Uncle Pride reached over and sniffed at Chris's cup without a word before passing it over to his dad.

-What did you spike it with? Agent Gibbs asked raising his eyebrows.

-Me? Tony laughed. Nothing. I can't help it if uncle Pride leaves hot sauce and pepper in his cups…guess he really could need a dishwasher.

-Tony.

-It was a prank dad. Neither Tony nor Agent Gibbs seemed really upset and Tony watched the exchange curiously.

-And judging from Donnie's reaction I'm guessing you were in on it too son, James said turning to Donnie.

-It was harmless, Donnie immediately defended them.

-Yeah so harmless that you aren't gonna laugh anymore when I catch you, Chris warned from the doorway. Behind him Nate stood with the same murderous glare on his face and Donnie grimaced.

-Now come on Chris, Nate, don't work yourselves up, Tony said backing away from the table. Donnie followed suit and when their big brothers advanced on them they rushed upstairs side by side to hide in Tony´s bedroom.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I went ahead and update/rewrote/changed a little in the first chapters. The first chapter pretty much sucked so I wrote it again and changed some things to make it better ( hopefully ). Otherwise no major changes, just some small ones and oh, the 6** **th** **chapter is now changed to what it should have been the whole time. So, in case you want to go back and read it you know it's fixed.**

-bullied the other side of the window-

-What's wrong buddy? Donnie jumped up from the bed and glared at his brother.

-Really, no privacy? Nate seriously you have to stop doing that.

-And now I know something is up.

-Nate…

-Donovan. Donnie winced at that. The use of his full name was usually reserved for strike two.

-It's nothing Nate, Tony just texted, nothing more, nothing less.

-Donovan James.

-I can't go, I am grounded, okay?

-Once you pitch down a notch, yes it'll be okay.

-Really Nate that's what my face is for, Tony texted and asked me to come over at Saturday.

-You could ask mom and dad you know.

-I don't want to push it.

-Nate! Nathan! Don't you dare….Nate! Stop it! Nate had taken of downstairs to no doubt find their parents and ask for him which just would lead to him getting in more trouble. Plus, he didn't feel like facing King. He tried to jump on his brother's back but missed and landed badly on his right arm instead. OW!

-Donnie, Nate kneeled down next to him on the floor but Donnie scooted away from him. Donnie come on, don't do this. Let me see. Donnie shook his head stubbornly and pouted. He wasn't happy with his brother right now and putting him through some grief wouldn't hurt. Donovan! Stop scooting away! Donnie threw a death glare at his brother and rose to his feet with a little trouble and brushed past him towards the kitchen to fetch an icepack knowing Nate wouldn't risk grabbing him when he didn't know exactly where his younger brother was hurt. Instead he followed him and tried to get his attention by barking his name but to know luck. Carefully pushing open the door to the kitchen Donnie stepped inside and came to a complete stop. At the kitchen table sat his parents now staring at him. He tried to back away but bumped into Nate that was standing right behind him. Donnie turned around and glared at him once again, before turning around and waking over to the freezer.

-Donnie-boy, his dad's nickname for him got his attention and he turned back around with the ice pack carefully placed on his arm. Come sit down. Donnie hesitated just a second before sitting down next to his dad who carefully removed the icepack and checked the arm. Nothing serious. Donnie leaned his head against his dad's shoulder and smiled when James slipped his arm around him.

-I don't want to destroy the moment, but Donnie has a question.

-Has not, Donnie answered pouting with a death glare.

-Has too and unless you want me to voice it you ask yourself.

-Already told you I don't have a question, Donnie argued and tried to get up but James didn't let go of his hold on the boy.

-Oh no, you don't, he said with just a hint of sternness in it. You are fine exactly where you are. Donnie pouted but stopped struggling and put his head back on his dad's shoulder. Good boy.

-Tony texted him and wants to meet at Saturday. You know it would be good for both of them and Donnie wouldn't even have bothered asking you. Donnie saw his parents exchange looks before James spoke:

-I think I'll give King a call and see what he thinks. With that he picked up his phone and dialed the familiar number.

-Hey King, hope I'm not interrupting anything?

-No? Good, listen Tony seems to have asked Donnie to pay him a visit on Saturday.

-Oh, you knew about it.

-Yeah I agree, it'd be good for them, he is grounded but I think this would be a bigger lesson.

-Yeah, I'll tell him, in fact he is right here next to me. And you'll tell Tony, right?

-Good, we'll see you on Saturday. Bye.

-Guessing that means the kid gets to go on a playdate.

-Shut up, Donnie roared angrily and glared at his brother. He wasn't looking forward to spending the day at King's. Maybe he could convince Tony to teach him some football tricks or something at the park instead. Glaring once more at his older brother Donnie nestled closer to his dad and just enjoyed the feeling of being able to do so. The kiss to the top of his head just topped it of.


	11. Chapter 11

-So, what do you want to do? Tony asked when he opened the door on Saturday morning.

-I was thinking that maybe you could teach me some of your football skills; Donnie said with a shy smile. Praying that Tony would agree so he wouldn't have to face King. He still wasn't sure whether he should be angry or hurt or just ignore him like he had planned to.

-Sure, but we probably should ask them first since by the way, I am grounded as well. Making their way inside it was no surprise finding the four inside the kitchen, each sipping on a mug of coffee. Donnie held his breath when Tony asked if they could go to the park to practice football. The grownups looked at each other quietly before King stated:

-Sorry guys, but you are both grounded. Maybe someone could take you later, but as for now you'll have to make do with the backyard. Donnie frowned at the decision and was about to protest out loud but decided against it, instead dragging Tony outside to the backyard. At least being outside was better than being inside.

The time seemed to fly and once Donnie had relaxed fully they both played happily until Tony suddenly stepped it up a notch and sent Donnie flying with a tackle. The small whimper wasn't loud but enough to draw Tony's attention to Donnie on the ground. Of course he had to land on the same arm as the day before yesterday.

-Are you okay? Tony asked worriedly.

-Yeah, just got the wind knocked out Donnie answered.

-You sure? You are rubbing your arm.

-It's nothing, just lightly sprained it the day before yesterday, it's just a bit sensitive, nothing to worry about, Donnie explained.

-We could go inside…

-No! Sorry…no I'm really starting to enjoy playing and I don't want to stop just yet. Partly that and Partly King was inside and would want to check out his arm if Tony said anything.

They continued playing until King suddenly called out that the lunch was ready. Tony hurried inside while Donnie dragged his feet behind. He washed his hands and even kept his arm under cold water for a little while, making sure to flush the toilet after that so nobody would get suspicious. Making it into the kitchen he sighed inwardly when he saw that the only empty chair was the one across from King's.

-Come on, sit down, son. That woke the anger in him. Sure, King had done a lot for Nate and even checked on him a couple of times when he was younger but he lost the right to call him son when he stopped coming around when Nate left. Scowling he ate in stubborn silence while not trying to gain any attention. King and Tony repeatedly tried to engage him in the conversation but gave up when Donnie didn't say more than he had to.

-Are you sure you aren't over doing it? Gibbs asked suddenly catching Donnie's attention.

-I am fine dad. For now yeah, but remember it's only been a week, we don't want it to get worse again.

-Yes dad, I'll be careful, Tony promised.

-What happened to your arm? King suddenly asked. Donnie stared down at his lightly swollen arm and swore under his breath before quickly tucking the arm under the table. He had been so focused on the conversation between Tony and Agent Gibbs that he had rolled up his sleeves without even thinking about it.

-It's nothing, I hurt it the day before yesterday but it wasn't anything serious.

-Does your parents know? Does Nate know?

-Yes sir. Donnie wasn't stupid. The sir was expected and he knew it. He had never pushed King before and wasn't sure it would be a good idea, no matter how angry he was.

-Good, but I'd still feel better if you'd let me have a look to make sure you didn't overdo it by playing.

-It really is fine King, nothing to worry about. Dad even checked it out when it happened. King shared a look with Gibbs but sat back down.

-Okay but between that and Tony's injury you two find something less active to do the rest of the day.

-Yes sir, Tony said quickly and Donnie with just a hint of attitude mimicked it. He didn't from where the sudden need to push King came from, but it felt kind of nice. Especially since he looked taken aback at first before deciding not to call on Donnie's attitude. When the boys a little later made it up to Tony's room Tony suddenly angry confronted him:

-You should have told them you fell on it a second time!

-Calm down, it's nothing. I recognize the injury, its happened before. They would just have worried without any reason.

-Is that why you hid it from Uncle Pride so quickly?! Tony's comment hit spot on and Donnie felt himself blush before turning his gaze down.

-Please just keep your voice down, okay? Tony I get that you are worried, but it has happened before and the last thing we need is for them to come up and see what's going on.

-What's going on is that you really should have told them. Scratch that I should have told them when you didn't.

-It barely hurts, Donnie hissed heatedly not caring to admit that the pain had intensified after the tackle. He had no doubt sprained it again.

-I make my earlier point again. Why hide it from their line of sight and not tell them the truth about you hurting it a second time if it isn't worse than you are willing to admit?

-It isn't as bad as everyone seems to think, Donnie muttered.

-Why don't you let me be the judge of that?!

-Chris! What are you doing here?! Donnie hastily backed away from Chris and held his arm protectively.

-You! Chris barked at Donnie, march yourself downstairs. I don't care how little you think it hurts. You grew up around us you know that one of the major rules is to never hide injury and from what I heard you did just that.

-I didn't grow up around you, Donnie muttered. Why couldn't they see it. Nate grew up around them, not him. Chris raised his eyebrows surprised before answering.

-Yes, you did. I've known you since you were 6 years old and I know for a fact that you know the rules as well as the alphabet.

-You don't know me, you knew me, Donnie muttered so quietly that he honestly didn't think Chris would have heard.

-You listen now, and you listen real good. I don't know from where this sudden attitude or all these accusations came from but you'd better get rid of them quick cause my patience is wearing thin. Chris had him cornered and Donnie was literally up against the wall trying to get away from Chris who invaded his personal space and had his face just inches away from his staring him straight in the eyes. Understood?!

-Yes sir. Donnie had never called him that but his emotions were quite high from the beginning and Chris had just shaken him up really good. Slightly trembling, Donnie made his way to the kitchen with Chris and Tony immediately behind him. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves while Chris decided how to best put it out there.

-You might want to take a look at his arm King. Seems like the kid wasn't entirely truthful earlier if I understood it correctly. From what I heard he hurt himself a second time and doesn't want anybody to know.

King was up in a matter of seconds and approached him with blazing eyes.

-That true?! You hurt it and didn't tell us! Then you lied me right in my face and assured me it was fine?!

-It's not like you care anyway! Donnie shouted back before clamping his mouth shut. He had done it. He had just shouted at King right in his face after having lied to him.

-You sit yourself down. King's voice was deathly quiet and Donnie found himself obeying instantly. He watched King pace for a couple of minutes before marching over to him and standing right in front of him.

-I want you to tell me how and when you got hurt while I check your arm and you better do it in a calm voice or you can just find yourself the nearest corner. Understood?

-Yes sir. Donnie said. He'd never seen this side of King before and it scared him.

-Start. King kneeled in front of Donnie and started checking his arm, not once looking him directly in the eyes.

-I hurt it the day before yesterday, I was chasing Nate and fell on it. It was just a grade 1 sprain. Dad even checked it out. It felt fine this morning then a tackle sent me flying and I must have sprained it again. It didn't hurt that bad and I knew it'd be fine if I just played a bit more carefully so I convinced Tony to keep playing.

-Is that true son? Gibbs asked so quietly that Donnie almost missed it.

-Yes dad.

-Come on son, I think your uncle wants a second.

-Kid, King started, for the first time trying to look him in the eyes. When he didn't succeed he tried to brush away Donnie's bangs which made Donnie see red.

-Don't touch me! You have no right! He got up from the chair and stood and glared angrily at King.

-I have every right I need so either you sit yourself down or…

-Or what?! Donnie asked with sarcasm clear in his voice. You finally throw me out of your life officially?!

-That's it! I'm taking you home. Grab your things we are leaving in 2 minutes. Donnie just stared at him. Of all the things he had expected this wasn't it. King had never given up on Nate, which just feed the feeling of him not being worth enough or good enough for King to care about him. He'd officially thrown him out. It was without a word Donnie brushed out of the kitchen, trying to hide the hurt behind the anger in a way he was all too familiar with. He grabbed his things and was down the stairs in less than a minute. Taking a final look at Nate's old room, feeling it was the last time he would be here. Downstairs he found Tony and Agent Gibbs sitting in the living room.

-Bye Tony, I'm sorry.

-Are you leaving? Why are you leaving? Tony asked confusion clear in his voice.

-Agent Pride is giving me a ride home. And no, it's not because of something you did or did not do. Don't worry. Donnie had to fight the tears that came with calling King Agent Pride.

-Everything okay kiddo? Now Agent Gibbs had made his way over to him and looked at him with worry clear in his eyes.

-I am fine. Agent Pride is giving me a lift home that's all. Donnie didn't wait for the reply just turned around and made his way out to the car, King right behind him. The whole car ride was spent in silence. Donnie kept staring out the window trying to distract himself to fight the tears. When they made it to his house he didn't wait for King just jumped out as soon as the car came to a stop. He walked to the front door getting out his key and trying to ignore that King had fallen into step behind him. He unlocked the door and turned around in the doorframe, focusing on King's chest when he said.

-Thank you for the lift home and for letting me come over sir. His voice was forced but polite and didn't hold an ounce of feelings in it.

-I need to see your brother or your parents kid before I leave, King said softly all traces of anger gone. Donnie just held the door open for him to step in before going on a search for them. King tried to put his hand on his shoulder but Donnie ducked away and sped up. They found his parents on the back porch with his brother. Here you go sir. I'm sure somebody will show you your way out afterwards.

-Donnie, King tried but Donnie just turned away.

-As I said, thank you for giving me a ride home and for letting me come over. I'm sure you want to speak with my parents alone. Good bye sir. Forever, he added in his thoughts.

-Donnie! He heard once again behind him but refused to turn around, he just kept walking until he reached his bedroom and locked the door behind him. Once again only letting the tears spill once he was alone. He knew he could have the perfect view of the conversation happening on the back porch but he didn't feel like it. All that mattered was already said.


	12. Chapter 12

-King! What are you doing here? James asked surprised seeing King come through the doors that led to the backyard.

-I brought Donnie home.

-What happened? James was instantly worried, he had a bad feeling about this.

-He hurt himself playing football…

-Is he okay? Katherine aske instantly.

-It's just a sprain, he told me the same happened a few days ago.

-Yeah, he tried to jump on to my back but missed and sprained it, Nate chipped in.

-The thing is, he didn't come to me, he convinced Tony to keep playing and tried to hide the injury even after I specifically asked him if something was up with his arm. He lied to me and told me it was an old injury. Chris overheard the boys talking a bit later and asked me to take a look at it. Donnie wasn't happy about it and shouted at me and kept giving me attitude, told me I didn't have any right to brush away his bangs so I could look him in the eyes. I'm sorry James, Katherine, but when he didn't comply when I asked him to sit down and instead accused me of kicking him out of my life officially if he didn't I couldn't handle it anymore. He isn't Nate and there is something eating that boy up. He's barely said a word to me since then, kept distancing himself like we never met before. James saw the hurt in his old friend's eyes and sighed. Donnie-boy, what have you gotten yourself into.

-You sit! James growled at Nate who had jumped up, ready to confront his younger brother. I'll go get him King, at least he needs to apologize no matter what is going on.

-Don't, that wouldn't do any good right now. Forcing the kid to apologize when all he wants to do is put 10 miles between us wouldn't do any of us good. Let him calm down first, I'll come over after a few days and see if I can't solve this thing with him. James nodded his understanding.

-You come over whenever you feel like it, I'm truly sorry for my son's behavior.

-The same goes for me. With that James showed King out the door and looked up the stairs deciding to give his son some time.

-Bullied-the other side of the window-

A few hours later Donnie woke up startled and looked at the clock on his bedside table. 7 am. He must have cried himself to sleep and somebody had to have broken into his room because he couldn't remember opening his door to anybody. Looking down he realized he was in pajamas, yeah, somebody had definitely broken into his room. Sighing he rose. Just biting the bullet would be for the best, not that he planned on telling his parents or his brother his silly reasons, just the facts. He showered and dressed before walking downstairs. He didn't feel like breakfast but his parents would get worried if he didn't eat anything. Finding the rest of the house quiet Donnie felt the relief wash over him, he could eat less than normal and nobody would notice. In the middle of his sandwich he felt movement behind him and before he could react he was forcefully thrown over his brother's shoulder.

-Nate! Nate! What are you doing? Nate didn't answer just walked into the office at the far end of the house and closed the door before putting Donnie down into a chair with more force than necessarily.

-Want to tell me what happened yesterday?

-I lost my temper, there is nothing more to it. I'll apologize if he comes by sometime.

-Donnie…

-Look Nate he worried too much, me and Tony had fun and he spoiled it by worrying about something so little as a sprained wrist. I knew what I was doing, but he wouldn't let us continue playing.

-You knew what you were doing when you hid an injury?

-I didn't think of it as that.

-Clearly you didn't think at all. Donnie didn't answer just stared at the large desk Nate was leaning against. Why did you shout at King? Nate finally continued clearly having reined in his temper a bit.

-I lost my temper.

-More like your mind. Shouting at him that he didn't have any right to brush away your bags to look you in the eyes? You are crazy!

-Yeah, Donnie agreed, the only fully truthful answer he had given. He was crazy having thought that King had ever been there for him. Looking back, he could easily see that King had clearly only tried to be nice by once in a while talking to him for a minute. Of course, he hadn't stuck around once Nate was gone. Why should he have? Donnie didn't mean anything to him or Christopher Lasalle and it was high time he learned.

-What are you thinking? Nate asked quietly seeing his little brother's whole stance change.

-How much of an idiot I am. That was true, but not for the reason Nate thought.

-Yeah, I could agree with that. But if you apologize he won't hold it against you.

-Sure, Donnie agreed easily. A thick silence fell over the room for a few minutes, both brothers lost in their thoughts.

-How is your arm?

-It's fine.

-How are you then?

-I just told you.

-Have I ever told you the rest of the story when I first met King?

-No, Donnie answered shortly. Just a few days ago he would have jumped at the chance of hearing it but now he'd rather just forget that King even existed. But I rather face mom and dad as soon as possible if you don't mind. Get all the chewing out done before lunch you know. Nate was surprised at his brother's choice but didn't question it.

-Okay bro, we'll take it another time. As on que the door opened by their parents.

-You two almost got us worried, Katherine stated. There is a half-eaten sandwich on the kitchen table and neither of you was there or in your beds.

-Sorry, both said at once.

-Did you chew him out son? James asked Nate with a raised eyebrow.

-Just a little.

-Did he give you an explanation yet?

-Yeah, he lost his temper when King got a bit to mother hen and wouldn't let them keep playing due to his injury.

-Is that all son? James asked surprised.

-I just lost my temper dad, I'll apologize. James wasn't sure if Donnie on purpose hadn't answered him with a simple yes sir or not, but he still had a bad feeling about this.

-You sure that's it?

-Yes sir. Thanx to Donnie wording it carefully he was able to look his dad in the eyes with the answer and he saw his dad relax for all of two seconds.

-Why did you lock yourself in your room?

-I felt like and idiot so I didn't want to talk to anybody.

-King said you barely said a word to him on the way over and that you distanced yourself.

-I tried to keep my feelings in check and respect is never a bad thing when you cross the line. All his answers were true enough for his dad to not suspect anything.

-Okay, son. If you say so. You do know we expect you to be respectful towards grownups and not cause any trouble wherever you are.

-Yes sir, Donnie said quietly.

-I'm disappointed son you let your feelings get the best of you, you will have to apologize to King once he comes over.

-Yes sir.

-And you don't get to visit Tony before he does.

-Yes sir. Donnie didn't want to visit Tony at King's place anyway.

-Okay then, we are finished.


	13. Chapter 13

It was Tuesday night when King finally came over. Not that Donnie wanted to see him, but he wanted the apology over with o he wouldn't have to face King anymore. Sure he'd come over and visit Nate a couple of times before his brother once again got deployed, or even come over to drink coffee sometime with his parents, but Donnie didn't have to be there. He could always stay in his room and if King for some odd reason would invite the whole family over for dinner he could always fake headache or something, it wasn't like he wanted Donnie there anyway. He still saw Tony in school and hung out with him there and maybe he could hang out with him at the park or something where they both could go their separate ways without him having to meet Chris or King. His thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell. Sighing he made it downstairs knowing it was expected of him. Steeling himself he opened the door and backed away, silently inviting King to step in.

-Hi kid.

-Good afternoon sir, Donnie answered keeping his voice as toneless as last time. May I take your jacket? King eyed him weirdly but he decided to not pay any attention and instead hang up King's jacket for him.

-Thankyou Donnie. By now the rest of the family had gathered as well in the entryway and Donnie looked away when King hugged his parents and his brother since it hurt too much to see.

-King, I think Donnie has something to say to you, James said once they all had made their way to the back porch.

-I'm sorry for shouting at you sir, and for causing trouble by hiding my injury. It won't happen again. Damn right it wouldn't because he would never be in a room with King long enough for it to happen.

-It's okay kid, you just got me worried. How is the hand?

-Just fine sir. Thank you for asking sir.

-You okay kid?

-Just fine sir. And how are you? Before King could answer Nate grabbed his arm and dragged him to the other side of the porch.

-What are you doing?

-Apologizing like I was told to do.

-Why all the sirs? It's like we are back to way before you ever met King, you are treating him like a stranger.

-I'm being respectful.

-Respectful my ass. Stop whatever attitude you have going on, you won't get anywhere with hurting King.

-I'm not hurting him.

-Yes, you are so watch it. I mean it Donnie!

-Yes sir. Donnie's response was short and when Nate made it back to the rest ha took a few deep breaths to compose himself before following Nate. Back at the table King got the end of the table which suited Nate fine and he hurriedly grabbed the seat the furthest from King, putting Nate between himself and King. It wasn't ideal but it would do. The conversation flew smoothly without Donnie having to do more than nod his approval a few times or ask for Nate or his dad to pass the salt. He had stopped listening a long time ago and was lost in his own thoughts when Nate all of the sudden elbowed him right in the ribs.

-Ow! What did you do that for!

-King asked you a question little brother so you better start answering him. Frowning at Nate he took up his now normal tone with King.

-I'm sorry sir, I didn't pay attention, what did you ask me?

-I asked if you had made any plans with Tony yet?

-No sir, I wasn't allowed to before I apologized to you.

-Why don't you come over tomorrow then? The apology is over and done with.

-Thank you for the invitation sir but I have a big extra credit project I am working on that takes up most of my free time.

-When is it due? Couldn't King give up already? It wasn't as if he really wanted him over anyway.

-Next Monday sir. But as I said it's a really big project and I am looking for a good grade.

-Extra credit work? When did you become interested in that kind of thing, Nate asked raising his eyebrows.

-I have a good basic knowledge right now, felt that it might be time to do something with it so I asked my history teacher for an extra credit assignment.

-Sounds like you are doing god in school.

-Yes sir. I try my hardest sir.

-Wouldn't question it. A few minutes later Donnie asked to be excused telling them he wanted to work on his extra assignments so that he might get time to meet Tony sometime. The truth was that Donnie was almost ready with it, but didn't want to go over to King's so desperate times called for desperate measures.

-Bullied-the other side of the window-

A knock on his bedroom door startled Donnie an hour later. The door opened and King looked in. Seeing who it was he quickly turned back around and kept working on the assignment.

-The dessert is served if you want some.

-Thankyou sir but no thank you, I think I ate too much for dinner, Donnie said without turning around.

-I think we need to talk, son, King said and all of the sudden he stood right behind Donnie. Startled that the older man could move so fast Donnie looked up into King's eyes for a few seconds before turning his gaze back down. What's going on Donnie? King now asked, bringing his chin back up to meet his worried gaze.

-Nothing sir. Everything is fine sir. No need to worry sir. Donnie fought against the hand that cupped his chin forcing eye contact but didn't succeed.

-That there tells me everything I need to know. Donnie didn't answer just stared straight past King, making the older man move his head a bit to the left to keep the eye contact. You know what it tells me? That everything isn't fine and since I just got your brother's word that you hadn't been acting strangely before I came I know for a fact that the problem is between us.

-I don't have a problem, Donnie answered heatedly. And if you excuse me I have work to do. The grip around his chin hardened as response.

-As I said earlier I think we need to talk.

-I'm fine sir, and clearly so are you so you are just wasting your time.

-Donovan. That made Donnie wince involuntarily. King hadn't used that tone with him more than twice in his life before. He was torn between listening to the one and only warning he knew he was about to get, and holding onto the hurt.

-Why are you doing this?

-Straightening things out between us? Because it's the right thing to do. Of course. Donnie heard all he needed to hear and any chance of him opening up now was gone. He had almost fallen for it again.

-Things are perfectly clear between us sir.

-No they aren't Donnie, but if this is the game you want to play we'll play it. With that King released his chin and turned to head out of the room. Donnie was momentarily frozen. That wasn't the reaction he had counted on. A small voice inside him told him this was exactly what he had wanted, to get King out of his life. Turning over the schoolbooks he settled for the corner next to the door and sat down on the floor leaning against the wall. When had things became so complicated? He couldn't tell anyone what King had said and that was a though burden to bear. His parents wouldn't understand and neither would anybody else. He heard footsteps coming up the stairs but ignored them. It was probably just Nate getting a sweater or something. Miserable he curled up even more in his corner. Suddenly the door opened without warning. Shielded from the line of vision Donnie wondered what was happening on the other side of the door. He heard footsteps walk around his room. Somebody flipped the books over on his desk, then his closet door opened, the door to the on suite. He could hear his brother swearing quietly over by the bed and held his breath when the footsteps once again closed in on him, just to seconds later walk out of the room without closing the door. Donnie stayed where he was for a minute before the curiosity took over and he gently pushed the door so he could get by. Turning around 360 degrees to take in the mess his brother had caused he suddenly came face to face with said brother.

-I am here to help you pack your bags.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: The number one thing I have struggled with in my stories are the discipline. With Tony it works out with grounding and stuff like that because he is raised by Gibbs and in many cases his conscience will eat him up enough and I think the stories work out good even without it. Donnie and Pride on the other hand doesn't have that kind of relationship so I decided to actually include some corporal punishment in the story. That's personally the kind of fanfictions I read and I think the story will benefit from it. I do NOT support corporal punishment of children, or anybody for that matter, in the real word. This is fiction and fictional characters so please bare that in mind when reading. If you have anything against it, there are 3 other stories that doesn't include corporal punishment so there are other options.**

 **Warning: Corporal punishment of a child and possibly a young adult.**

-Bullied-the other side of the window-

 _Turning around 360 degrees to take in the mess his brother had caused he suddenly came face to face with his brother._

 _-I am here to help you pack your bags._

-Wha-a-t-t? Donnie stuttered. What are you talking about? Nate!

-Sorry kid but this is happening.

-What is happening?!

-We are packing your bags.

-What? Nate! My bags? I'm not going anywhere!

-Yes you are.

-Where?!

-Your guess is as good as mine. The world started spinning and Donne not finding any support hit the floor hard and started crying deep sobs that raked through his body making him struggle to get air. Come on kid! He heard Nate's voice but his eyes were blurry from the tears and he couldn't see his brother.

-Nate! he suddenly heard both his parents disapproving voices.

-Come on kid, up you get. King! King was the one holding him in a secure grip and settling him on his lap. Donnie tried furiously to squirm away but to no use so in the end he just settled on crying hard into King's shoulder every now and then trying to free himself. Shhh settle down kid. Nothing bad is gonna happen I promise. You are just coming home with me for a while. That made Donnie renew his efforts. Settle down kid, what's so bad with that, huh?

-You don't want me there, you said so, Donnie managed to get out in between sobs.

-Never said that kid, King murmured into Donnie's hair.

-You did. You threw me out. Gave up on me. Not as good as Nate. Not worth…Not worth, he tried.

-Not worth what kid?

-Your time. You! Chris! Let me go! I'm not Nate, and I will never be! Always Nate's brother. Stop it! Let me go!

-Noup, not letting you go.

-Yes! Donnie tried between sobs.

-No, so settle down Donovan.

-You don't want me. Never wanted me near. Let me go! He tried once again. Just Nate's brother. Never Donnie. Not good enough. Let me go! Let me up!

-Donovan James. The voice was highly disapproving. Settle yourself down now before you choke. I would explain things to you if I thought you'd remember any of it tomorrow.

-Hate you. You hurt me, never me, Donnie mumbled finally wearing himself out and falling to sleep with his head on King's shoulder, securely wrapped in the older man's arms.

-Bullied-the other side of the window-

When Donnie woke up the next morning he didn't have any idea where he was. His head hurt like hell and he couldn't remember anything. He carefully rolled out of bed and went into the on-suite to get freshened up before carefully opening the door and looking out into the familiar hallway. He was at King's place. The second he recognized it King himself made it up the stair and into said hallway. Donnie paled as a flood of memories came over him: King stating they should talk, Nate in his room, Nate saying to pack his bags and him crying on King's lap telling him everything in his despair. During Donnie's flashback King had made his way over to him and now wrapped him in a tight hug. Donnie just stood there conflicted, not sure what to do. When King finally let go of him and tilted his head up Donnie saw the worry and the softness on the man´s face.

-Get dressed kid, Nate packed you a bag. It's under the bed. Doing as he was told the still apprehensive kid emerged from the bedroom a minute later finding King in the same spot as he left him. Let's get you something to eat. King put an arm around his shoulders and pulled him close effectively keeping Donnie on the right course. When Donnie finally sat at the kitchen table with a plate of breakfast in front of him he was told to just eat and listen and not say anything before he was told to.

-Donnie there is a lot of things we need to discuss but the basics are that: you are going to stay here for a week with me and no objections will help so you might as well get used to the idea. Agent Gibbs and Tony are out camping so it's just us here. We do need to talk more than anything, but there are a couple of rules that are the exact same I introduced to your brother a couple of years back: 1. Respect. You may not like everything I have to say and everything I do but you will be respectful anyway. are to stay in my sight at all times except when you have permission to do otherwise. 3. You will listen to me and do as I tell you. 4. You look me in the eyes when you are speaking to me or I am speaking to you. And the most important one, number 5. I expect you to be honest with me, no lies and no trying to hide anything. Those are the only five things you have to worry about. No school for a week, meaning we have plenty of time and I want every single, little detail out in the open so we can get this done and over with. Do you understand me?

-Yes sir. It wasn't easy to maintain the required eye contact, but Donnie actually found that it was easier reading King that way. And it led to less misunderstandings than when he had to guess King's facial expressions.

-I promise to be totally open and honest with you and in exchange I want you to do the same. Okay son? You won't have to guess what I mean or what I'm thinking and I won't have to involve your brother to be assured that you aren't lying to me.

-Okay. Donnie had only hesitated a moment before answering, involving Nate wasn't something he wanted to do because his brother was more than pissed with him at the moment and he and his dad were experts at reading him, which meant Nate would tell King everything the man wanted to know. Besides agreeing meant that he once and for all would know what King thought about him.

-This is about trust Donnie. You learning to trust my word and me learning to trust yours. I want to have your word. No wording things carefully or lying by omission because that's still lying in my book. I found out you lied and I'll involve either your dad or your brother. You push me too far and you won't like what happens. This is me giving you a chance Donnie and I want you to understand that.

-I understand and I promise. No lies, no hiding things.

-bullied-the other side of the window-

-First things first, you owe me 20 minutes of corner time for shouting at me, King said once Donnie was downstairs again ready to start the day.

-What?! Donnie had never been put in a corner. Not even by King. Sure, King had threatened him with it, but never actually done it. King saw his hesitation and pleading look for what it was and gently guided him to the nearest corner.

-Head straight, no leaning and hands by your sides. Donnie found it hard to stand still and it gave him painfully enough time to go through his thoughts. He had no doubt King had filed away every single detail he had told the man yesterday. When 20 minutes finally was up King gently called Donnie to him and asked: why were you in the corner?

-I'm not the 10-year-old you remember King, I'm 14 and corner time with asking me a question like that?!

-I know how old you are Donnie and that was not my question. Strike one.

-I shouted at you the last time I was here. Shouting means corner time because me not being able to express my feelings calmly means I need to calm down, Donnie said with as much attitude as he could muster.

-Strike two. I don't recommend pushing me further. Strike 3 and I call your dad

-That wasn't our deal.

-No the deal was that I would have Nate or your dad here if you lied to me. I haven't even gotten a real answer out of you yet. Pushing me is a whole other matter.

-Meaning? Donnie aske confused.

-Lying leads to your dad or brother coming here to help me figure out when you are lying and when you are telling me the truth and that is a place I hope we won't come to. Pushing me means I call your dad and get his permission to treat you the exact same I would have treated Nate in this situation.

-Fine, I yelled at you, Donnie said with just a trace of anger in his voice.

-Last warning to quit the attitude. Now how long have you been wishing that I would have stayed around after Nate left?

-Since the day I realized you weren't coming around anymore. The words were out before Donnie could stop then and he mentally cursed himself for saying it out loud.

-When was that?

-About a week after Nate left, Donnie answered shortly.

-Why didn't you say something? Or come visit me? You must have known that the door always would be open for you. Donnie just glared at him, there was no way he would tell him that.

-You have 5 seconds to answer kid or it's strike 3. 5…4…3…

-I was hoping you'd come by at first. Donnie had gotten a feeling he really didn't want to come to 0.

-Then?

-Then I felt like a kid that couldn't take care of myself and in the end, I was too proud to come begging for you to stay around, Donnie admitted, for the first time openly showing the hurt.

-Did it really take that much to come over and tell me how you felt? To talk it out with me? Was I really that much of a hard ass?

-You were Nate's mentor, not mine, you didn't have any obligation against me.

-And we both now that wouldn't have mattered.

-Time passed and I learned to do without you, Donnie said stubbornly.

-What is all this attitude of yours about then?

-I really hate counting kid.

-I learned to do without you, didn't mean I had to like it.

-You better start thinking about your promise kid because I am pretty sure you are about to either lie by omission or outright lie to me.

-You don't know that, Donnie sulked.

-You don't want to try me on that one kid. Now what is all this attitude lately about?

-I wished you would have stayed around, Okay?! I was angry and hurt when you didn't and you coming barging into my life again the second Nate got involved wasn't really enjoyable when I'd spent the last 4 years trying to forget you even existed.

-So why didn't you talk to me or Nate? Or Chris? You know we would have listened. Or even your parents?

-Told you what?! That I wished you would have seen me the same way?! No chance in hell I would have! Taking a deep breath Donnie calmed himself slightly. Look this is ridiculous. I'll make it easy on us both and just head home. Take whatever punishment they choses.

-Not going to happen kid so you can either sit back down or go stand in the corner. Your choice.

-Much of a choice that is Donnie muttered flopping back down on the couch.

-Strike 3. Corner. Now. Donnie stared wide eyed at King, suddenly regretting pushing him. He had no idea what treating him like he would have Nate meant. Standing with his nose in the corner Donnie could barely hear King who clearly didn't trust Donnie to stay put, meaning King stayed in the room.

-James, sorry to bother you at work but it seems that Donnie and I can't quite come to an understanding as easy as I thought so I would like your and Katherine's permission to treat Donnie the same way as I would have treated Nate. There was a paus and Donnie wondered what his dad answered.

-Thanx James, yeah no problem.

-Hope you are calming yourself down there.

-Yes sir.

Then the room got silent again before King's phone started ringing.

-Pride. Thanx for trusting me, yeah, I'll take care of him. You know I care about him. It's just about making him see it too. I'm planning on calling him later and checking in, I am not too happy about what happened even if it gave me an heads up. No need to thank me James you know that. Yeah, tomorrow maybe. I'll call you tonight. Bye.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: Sorry for ending the chapter so suddenly it wasn't my intention, but my time run out so I thought that it was better than nothing at all. The same warnings will continue throughout the story.

-Bullied the other side of the window-

-You can come out of the corner now. Donnie turned around at that and headed straight for the spot on the sofa King nodded towards.

-I reached 3, why? Donnie shrugged.

-I don't know. My emotions got the best of me I guess.

-How much have Nate told you about how me and him used to do things when he screwed up?

-Nothing. He got grounded I guess and you lectured him and then mom and dad lectured him.

-You think that is the only thing that happened?

-I have never asked so I truly don't know.

-Okay, King sighed. Well I just got off the phone with your dad and your parents agreed to let me handle things the same way I did with your brother and that is to spank you.

-What?! Donnie jumped up from the sofa and started backing away. No way King, I get that you are mad, but spanking me? No. That wasn't part of the deal.

-Donnie sit down. Donnie shook his head and stayed where he was a safe distance away from King. Donovan James Williams either you sit down and listen or we are going to start with a preview, then talk and then discuss you pushing me far enough to do this. Donnie didn't move just flinched at the use of his full name. Okay then you just made it worse for yourself. Before Donnie could react King had his arm in a secure grip and dragged him back to the sofa where he sat down and pulled Donnie to stand in front of him.

-I need you to look at me Donnie. Because of the calmness and gentleness in King's voice Donnie actually complied and looked nervously into his eyes. This is not a beating, it's a spanking, okay? It will hurt, but not leave any permanent damage. I am not doing this to hurt you. I am doing it because just like with your brother it's the only thing that seems to get through your head. Do you understand?

Donnie stared shocked at King before suddenly trying to fight King's hold and bolt. Before he knew it though he was suddenly staring at the carpet with his body flung across King's knees. Too stunned to do anything he just lay there wondering what would happen next. Sure, he had a pretty good idea but had never actually been spanked before. He was overall a fairly well-behaved kid but with King everything seemed to change. His thoughts were interrupted by the first hard SWAT to his backside. It took a millisecond before the pain registered and when it did Donnie yelped shocked. The other one came down just as hard and Donnie started trying to buck off King's lap. King just tightened his hold against Donnie's waist and gave his backside a particularly hard swat.

-Stop struggling kid, it only makes it worse. Donnie silently wondered if he was crazy. Stop struggling?! After five more stinging SWATs he gave up and just lay there sobbing as the last two fell. King immediately pulled him up into a hug and let him sob on his shoulder until he calmed down and started squirming. King released him but held a grip on his shoulders.

-Are you okay son?

Donnie thought for a moment before nodding but glaring at king and pouting at the same time.

-Good. Now sit down. Donnie did so wincing when his throbbing backside made contact with the top of the coffee table. Is there something you want to ask me before we continue?

-Did you…did you really do this to Nate?

-Yep kid, more times than I care to remember. It's an effective attention grabber. It's not meant to scare you kid, it's meant to get your attention and to punish you but nothing more or less, do you understand me?

-Yes sir. And weirdly enough the spanking hadn't scared him for more than a minute. Looking back it hadn't even been that bad. Emotional, yes. But bad, not really. That didn't mean he had any doubt King could make it worse if he had to.

-Good. Why did you decide to push me kid?

-I truly don't know, Donnie answered truthfully looking King squarely in the eyes.

-Okay, well I guess you wont do it again anytime soon after what's coming.

-What do you mean? Donnie asked apprehensively.

-That kid was the preview. Now for pushing me, it's never a good idea. Stand up. Donnie did so reluctantly and was once again flipped over King's knees. Are you ready?

-Yes sir, Donnie said unsure. With that Kings started raining down heavy SWAT after SWAT for a while not saying anything.

-Why I am doing this Donnie? He suddenly asked.

-I…he took a deep breath trying to focus, I gave you attitude. S-s-ooorrryyy! He shrieked as the next SWAT landed on his already stinging backside.

-That's right, good boy, King praised before moving on the under curve where he knew the kid would feel it most. The first SWAT there caught Donnie's breath and with the next he started sobbing freely. King stopped at that and scooped him up into his lap. Donnie didn't care anymore how angry or hurt he was. King was there right now and that was all that mattered. With that thought in his mind he snuggled closer to the man who gladly tightened his hold. Feeling the warmth from King along with the overall exhaustion Donnie rested his head on Kings shoulder and fell asleep just as King placed a gentle kiss on the top of his head.

 **A/N: sorry guys, this is my first attempt ever to write something with corporal discipline in it so please keep that in mind. The last few sentences of fluff are more my speciality…**


	16. Chapter 16

Donnie woke up in a unfamiliar bed and it once again took a moment for him to realize where he was. Without a sound he rolled over and grimaced slightly at the pain in his backside before getting up and walking over to the nearest mirror where he studied the damage made to his backside. Hearing a low chuckle from the door frame Donnie blushing placed his boxers back in place and turned his attention to the figure in the doorway. Chris. He hadn't counted on him being here.

-What time is it? Donne asked casually while glaring at Chris for sneaking up on him.

-2pm. I was just about to come up here and wake you so no need to glare at me. Donnie just nodded and turned to search for some clothes frowning when his jeans reignited the fire in his backside.

-Yeah, I wouldn't wear those, Chris laughed still standing in the doorway.

-Well I am. He could be stubborn if he wanted to and right now he opted for stubborn rather than embarrassed.

-Suit yourself. Donnie glared at him and changed to a clean T-shirt before starting to head downstairs. Annoyingly enough Chris followed him just half a step behind.

-Are you a dog or something?!

-Lunch is ready and I invited him to stay so watch your attitude Donnie or we'll be right back where we started, King chipped in from the bottom of the stairs before Chris had a chance to answer.

-Yes sir, Donnie answered immediately. King wasn't someone he wanted to mess with right now, not for any reason. Donnie gingerly sat down on the kitchen chair he was told was his and couldn't help but grimace and let out a small hiss of pain when his backside touched the wooden chair. A plate of steaming food was put in front of him and the rest of the meal was quiet. As soon as they were done eating Chris excused himself, stating he had to go back to the office to do some things and Donnie gave a sigh of relief, he didn't want Chris around right now. The relief was short lived though, because as soon as Chris walked out the door King guided Donnie to once again sit on the sofa and sat himself down on the coffee table right in front of him.

-Are you okay kid? The gentleness surprised him more than anything and Donnie took a moment to consider the question. Sure, his backside hurt but in a way he had gotten what he wanted, King treating him just like Nate and there wasn't any real harm done but he still surprised himself by nodding his head as answer to King's question.

-Good. Now I got some answers out of you before you decided to give me attitude and I am hoping for some more. I considered letting you off the hook for the rest of the day, but I think it will be good for you to think things through while you still feel the reminder to watch your attitude. Now do you feel like sharing why you thought I didn't want you here?

Donnie felt that it wasn't really a question and that since King already knew part of the answer it wasn't really any idea in trying to lie.

-You threw me out the other day when I was here. As soon as I became an inconvenience you threw me out.

-What?! Is that really what you think?!

-Yeah, I mean I was only here for what my brother called a playdate and since I wasn't Nate it was too much trouble for you to deal with me, instead you told me to grab my bags and that you'd drive me home.

-I didn't know how to deal with you, King admitted.

-What?! Now it was Donnie's turn to stare dumbfounded at King.

-You heard me kid. I realized that you indeed were Donnie, something I forgot for a couple of seconds and I didn't want to scare you away nor say anything I later would regret so I decided to let your parents handle you. Besides I didn't have their permission at the time to handle you the way I did earlier today.

-You mean…?

-That I would have handled you that way on Saturday if you had been Nate, yes. Kid you may not believe it right now but it was never about throwing you out of my life in officially or officially, I simply realized that I didn't know you good enough to do what I for a moment contemplated doing.

-Yeah, and whose fault is that?!

-Both of ours. Cut the attitude Donnie.

-You said that you didn't wanted to say something you'd later regret, so I guess that means you don't regret telling me to pack my bag, Donnie said accusingly, glaring at King.

-I don't.

-I knew that this was wasted time! Donnie growled, and rose from the sofa before King could react and stood there in the middle of the floor confused, hurt and angry. He didn't know what to do. He had been so close to just open up to King, but what was the point if he didn't regret throwing him out.

-Donnie. King grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him around to face him. Donnie hadn't even heard King close in on him and here he was forcing him to look him in the eyes.

-I don't regret asking you to pack your bag or giving you a ride home. I regret that I didn't explained my reasons at the time. I honestly thought we both needed some time to think through the situation and that Nate or your parents would be better off handling you at the moment.

-You still threw me out.

-And that is exactly what I'm trying to tell you I regret doing, making you feel like I had had enough.

-You said so too.

-I know. And I am sorry Donnie, I never meant for you to feel that way or take those words the wrong way. Donnie wasn't totally convinced.

-Kid I made you a promise to be honest with you and I've never been one to break promises. King desperately wanted to make Donnie a promise that he'd be there for the rest of his life, but he feared that the kid wouldn't be able to believe it yet.

-Okay, Donnie whispered. King took e deep breath before drawing Donnie close to him in a hug. Donnie squirmed before relaxing slightly when King by stroking his hair effectively guided his head to rest on his shoulder. That way the now familiar sent of King flooded his senses and Donnie took a deep breath closing his eyes and relaxing fully, even going as far as slightly hugging the man back. He broke away after a little while and smiled back at the kind smile King offered him.

-Why are you doing this? Donnie couldn't help but ask once he once again was situated on the sofa.

-Because Donnie, you've always been more to me than just Nate's little brother. It just took me a little while to see it clearly.

-Do you really mean that? He asked the insecurity he felt shining through.

-Yes Donnie I do. You've always been like a son to me in a lot of ways, just as Nate has.

-But you never spent that much time with me. King drew a hand over his face grimacing at how much those words hurt.

-No, I didn't. You and your dad were close even back then Donnie and Nate often needed me more. I did make a point of talking to you as often as possible though. You see Donnie it wasn't about wanting to leave you out, more about Nate needing my undivided attention at times, and with discussions like the one I just had with you, I don't think neither of you would have been comfortable if you were around.

-Still.

-Kid I know I could have been there more, but me not being there didn't mean that I didn't keep tabs on you. I made a point of always asking your parents and teachers about you.

-You checked with my school?!

-More than once. I wasn't sure you wanted nor needed me around so I decided to take a back seat when it came to you and that is mostly my mistake.

-Mostly?

-As I said earlier kid you could always have said something. Donnie hung his head at that, realizing that he had in reality known the door always would be open.

-So…this?! He made a sweeping gesture with his hand.

-Is me trying to step into that front seat again. It's me doing this for you, not Nate or your parents. I am doing it for you. And a bit for me, sitting in the backseat has never been my thing. Donnie stared amazed at King wondering how he'd known.

-I'm a fast learner. With all the clues you've given me I could only think that was the number one thing you wondered about right now.

-So you haven't taken lessons from dad? Donnie asked with a small smile.

-Partly, King admitted unashamed. He told me everything goes better with you If I apply just a bit of affection. Donnie blushed at that.

-And no, I didn't exactly need his advice, in Nate's case they weren't at the same page anymore with your dad as you know and I figured him out. But to be honest kid I wasn't sure of myself with you so I decided to ask James for a few pointers. Donnie hadn't even thought about that but smiled relieved at King's reassurance.

-Thanks.

-No need to thank me kid. I should have stepped in and done this a long time ago.

-I'm pretty good at hiding things…

-As long as your dad isn't near?! King asked with a knowing smile.

-Yeah. Him and Nate are real blood dogs when they want to be. I can be happy that mom takes a more backseat approach and lets them deal with most stuff. King chuckled at that.

-I hope to one day get there with you, King suddenly admitted.

-You do?

-Yeah kid. You need to stop being insecure about me being willing to stay in your life. I'd make you a promise right now if I thought you'd take it to heart.

-Really? Donnie asked hopeful.

-Kid! King groaned. Please tell me I didn't make you THAT insecure in 4 years. Now do you want to put everything on the table right now or do you want to take a little break?

 **A/N: That actually went better than I thought. King handling the attitude sobered Donnie up a bit, that doesn't mean that everything is just good between them though, but at least it's a beginning. Besides you have Chris and Donnie and Donnie and his parents left. And sorry for stopping here but I felt that it was the best and only place really to do it for a little while.**


	17. Chapter 17

-I actually don't know, Donnie admitted quietly. Part of me just wants this over and done with…

-And the other part?

-Wants to maybe spend a little time with you like Nate did. Donnie shrugged his shoulder to emphasize the maybe and make it look like it wasn't a big deal but he could see on King's face that he wasn't fooling anybody.

-How about this: this is going so good so I'll ask you one more question and then we can end for the day and do something fun instead, okay?

-Okay.

-You said last night that you didn't think you were worth mine or Chris's time, why? Donnie hesitated slightly, things had been great the last few minutes and he really didn't want to destroy it.

-I…he took a deep breath. I just said it to make you let go of me, nothing more to it. It was an obvious lie, but there was still that part of Donnie that felt resentfulness against King. The man had practically abandoned him for 4 years and Donnie couldn't even be sure that King had actually checked up on him without his knowledge, on the other hand the man had promised to not lie to him but how could he be sure?! It's King, he reminded himself, King wouldn't do that. At least not with Nate.

-Stop it, Kid! whatever it is your thinking don't even go there.

-How do you know what I'm thinking?! Donnie answered with just a hint of attitude.

-Because I can see it on your face, King explained with annoying calmness. And you are already on 2 Donnie so calm down, take a deep breath and explain. Your last chance or I invite your brother over and he isn't too happy with you right now. Donnie gulped. Nate. He'd rather give up that last piece of information than have to face Nate.

-It was the only reason I could find, Donnie said softly. King seemed to understand what he was talking about because he didn't ask anything else just moved to sit down on the couch next to him and pulled him into a hug.

-Good boy, King mumbled into his hair and Donnie relaxed. It hadn't been that bad overall. At least not as bad as he had thought.

-Bullied-The other side of the window-

Pride watched the kid as he ate breakfast. The talk last afternoon had definitely gone better than he had expected after the morning. They had even covered most of the basics, something Pride was happy to have behind him and was sure the kid was too. The first step is always the hardest, he taught, suddenly reminded of his dad's old saying. This day wouldn't be much easier though. He knew that he would be met with one of two Donnie's, either the kid would be shy and quiet or he would be angry to hide the hurt that was so raw within him.

-You ready kid? At Donnie's nodding head he guided the kid to the back porch. They had spent the rest of yesterday out here just hanging, playing a few sports and getting to know each other. Donnie had had mixed feelings, but a few hugs and reassuring words later the kid was jumping around happily. Pride had to smile at the energetic kid, it was a side of Donnie he hadn't seen since the kid was ten and he hadn't quite expected to see it so soon.

-What are we doing here? Donnie asked clearly confused.

-I felt like we could use some air from time to time, he explained keeping an arm around the kid as they sat down.

-Soo…today?

-Today we finish talking first of all.

-Then?

-Then, he replied with a sigh, we'll see. Either we do like yesterday or you do part of your punishment. He hadn't really thought that far, not wanting to plan anything while the kid was so unpredictable.

-Okay.

-Is there something you need to get of your chest still? Remember I want the truth Donnie. Donnie hesitated a moment before shaking his head. I let a comfortable silence fall over us as I waited for the kid to pick up the conversation wherever he wanted. It was another thing James had taught me. Donnie only did pushing to a certain degree before he shut down completely and that was something I wasn't about to let happen. Not after the work we had done to get here.

-You know it's weird. I never thought I'd actually be here. Spending one on one time with my brother's mentor is something that barely even happened in my wildest dreams.

-Kid, I think it's time you start skipping the `your brother's mentor` part.

-What do you mean? He asked trying to sound confused but I heard the longing and hope in his voice.

-I mean, that if you just let me, scratch that whether you want it or not, I'll start looking out for you a whole lot more and that means I'm not just your brother's mentor, I'm yours too.

-Are you serious?!

-Remember what I promised you.

-Thanks.

-No need to thank me. They just sat there for a couple of minutes enjoying each other's company before Donnie once again broke the silence.

-So my punishment?

-You are just like your brother you know, both of you fight through all the talking but when it comes to the punishment you face it head on.

-That's only with you, the kid responded actually smiling a bit.

-Oh no, don't think so. You give yourself to little credit kid. Donnie just shrugged his shoulders at that before giving me a look. Sighing I got up and went over to the patio table getting the block and paper I had put there earlier.

-You are gonna start with writing me a list of what you did wrong. You, not me. I've already written mine. Once you've done that you can write me a list of what you should have done instead.

-You wrote a list too?! The kid asked wide-eyed.

-Yeah, it goes both ways. Now head up to your room and don't come down before I either call you or you are finished with them both. The kid was gone in an instant, grabbing the pen and paper as he headed past me.

-Bullied-the other side of the window-

-Hey Donnie, Chris said, suddenly sitting down on his bed. Donnie had seen and heard him enter the house almost an hour earlier, but had already forgot that he was there since he wasn't allowed to leave the room until he was ready with the assignment. He had peeked out the window when he had heard a car pulling up, but that was the only reason he even knew Chris was there. He'd assumed that they were talking about a case and just kept on working. Looking at Chris now though he wasn't too sure about that anymore.

-Why don't we talk a little Kid, Chris continued interrupting Donnie's thoughts. Donnie didn't answer, barely turned around to look at him. He wasn't sure where he stood with Chris, especially after yesterday. Donnie! Chris suddenly barked making Donnie jump and turn startled. It wasn't a suggestion so you better sit yourself down here next to me or I'll move you myself.

Donnie did so apprehensively. As with Nate he had barely sat himself down as far away from Chris as possible when Chris reached out and grabbed him forcing him to sit next to him. The next few seconds Chris just sat there eyeing him until it made Donnie uncomfortable enough to speak.

-How mad are you?

-Why do you think I'm mad?

-Are you actually gonna make me say it?

-Wouldn't have made it easy for your brother so why should I make it easy for you? After all everything you did was to get us to treat you as we would have Nate.

-You talked to King.

-Didn't have to, once I calmed down it wasn't hard to see the reason behind it all.

-I'm sorry. I was angry, but mostly at King and you didn't deserve to be yelled at.

-Why not?! Chris almost looked hurt which wasn't something Donnie had counted on

-What do you mean? You weren't King, Chris, and I…I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way, Donnie said, suddenly realizing how Chris must have taken it. What I meant was that it wasn't fair to yell at you.

-Have you apologized to King?

-No.

-So why me?

-You were always more like a big brother, you aren't supposed to make those decisions. If King had decided to hang around you would have too.

-You think I don't have my own mind?

-Actually, I don't, Donnie snarled and got up from the bed, turning his back towards Chris. Of course he had questioned the conclusion that Chris would have came around too if King just would have. He had never worked through the theory though since it hurt too much to think that he willfully had been abandoned by both Chris and King. Chris put a hand on his shoulder and made a move to turn him around but Donnie shrugged off the hand angrily. No way in hell that he was gonna turn around. Not now. Not when he felt like his world just shuttered a little bit more.

-Donnie…, the voice was a bit irritated and it made Donnie see red. What right had Chris to be angry with him?!

-Go away. It took all of his self-control to keep himself from yelling the words.

-Not gonna happen so either you turn around or I do it for you. Donnie knowing Chris definitely would do that, turned around his mask put in place. He had locked down all emotions and there was no way Chris would get a word out of him now.


	18. Chapter 18

-Whether you like it or not kid we are going to talk. Donnie didn't say a word just let himself be led back to the bed where they both sat down, Chris staring at him and Donnie staring straight forward.

They both sat like that for a few minutes, Chris obviously hoping for Donnie to start off the conversation while Donnie was determined not to. Right now everything was about damage control. He hadn't done this in years before the run in with King but it was like a second nature to him so he knew exactly what to do. What to say on the other hand, was a little trickier. After all King had looked through him after a few days.

-Why did you want our attention so badly?

-Jealous of Nate I guess. I'm over it though, everything is fine. Donnie could see on Chris's expression that he didn't believe him ad cursed under his breath before continuing: I already talked it through with King, I'm fine now. I see the error in my ways and he already punished me with an assignment I would like to get back to if you don't mind.

-Donnie, Chris said simply.

-I'm fine Chris, and we are fine so just leave it be. It was obviously a lie but he managed to somehow look Chris straight in the eye and say it. Honestly Chris, we don't have to talk about anything, okay? I get it.

-You sure? Chris asked one of his eyebrows raised.

-Positive. Chris eyed him for the longest time before raising from the bed without a word and walked downstairs. Donnie drew a sigh of relief before throwing himself on the bed.

-Bullied-the other side of the window-

-King. Pride turned around at Chris's defeated voice.

-What happened son?

-Pushed him too far, he suddenly turned all quiet and then he lied to me straight in my face.

-I'm calling James, Pride said, he too defeated. The kid was so damn stubborn and just when he felt he had gotten through to him something like this happened. He didn't really have a choice, he'd told the kid what the deal was and even though the kid hadn't had that deal with Chris, Pride started feeling a bit out of his league now. Sighing he picked up his phone and dialed the familiar number.

-James, hi it's me.

 _-King, something up? James asked surprised._

-Everything with me and Donnie is fine right now, but Chris is another story. Donnie went all quiet on him all of the sudden and then lied to him straight in the face. I don't like asking for this James, but frankly I think mine and Donnie's relationship is too new and raw right now for it to do any good with me pushing him in this situation.

 _-You might be right King, I'm happy he at least answered as well as he did to you in the end so don't push your luck. Donnie is Donnie and he isn't always easy._

-I'm starting to see that more and more.

 _-So do you want me to come down for a visit, help straighten things up?_

-Either you or Nate.

 _-Did you ever call him?_

-No. Decided to give him a piece of my mind when I see him in person instead.

 _-Good choice. I don't think Nate is the person right now. Not after what happened Tuesday._

-I agree, just wanted to make sure it was your choice.

 _-Thankyou King, but you know the boys almost as good as me._

-I know Nate James. Donnie is a work in progress.

 _-I'll be there in an hour if that's okay?_

-It's fine. See you then, King ended the call.

-Bullied-the other side of the window-

Donnie sat up straight in the bed. He had fallen into a restless sleep after Chris's visit.

-You okay son?

-Dad?! Donnie's eyes had suddenly found their focus on the figure in the doorway to his room here at King's place. Jumping up from the bed he rushed over to his dad and hugged him tightly. He smiled when he felt his dad hug him just as close and rest his chin on his head.

-You'd think it was a year, not two days, James laughed and Donnie blushed pushing away suddenly remembering the events that had landed him here. James seeing Donnie's troubled eyes drew him close into yet another strong hug until he felt his son relax again.

-So that's how you are supposed to do it. Kings voice made Donnie jump but his dad didn't even bat an eye.

-Yep. It's all about hugs with this one.

-Da-ad. Donnie whined a little and blushed once again. King and his dad just raised their eyebrows. To seemingly prove his point James brought his slightly struggling boy close again, this time dropping a kiss on his golden locks.

-Donnie-boy, it's fine. We'll figure everything out once you get home.

-If that's the case, what are you doing here then?! Pride couldn't help but notice how honest and relaxed the kid was around his dad. Donnie was the boy he'd seen glimpses of here and there during their brightest moments.

-Seems you all need a helping hand at sorting out this last bit so here I am son. Donnie grimaced at that. His dad was almost always able to see through his all of his masks and knew just when he was lying.

-I screwed it up dad, Donnie said honestly. I got angry and shut down.

-It's fine son. But thanks for telling me. James's tone was almost soothing, something Donnie recognized but chose to ignore. Right now, he was too focused on the happiness he felt at having his dad here no matter what the reason for his visit was.

-Why don't you two come down when you are ready, okay kid? King said and ruffled his hair fondly before leaving father and son to themselves. As soon as King closed the door behind him Donnie wrapped his Dad in yet another hug, taking his dad by surprise.

-It's weird to have you here, Donnie admitted quietly.

-Is it weird to be here too? James asked Donnie knowingly.

-Yeah, I guess. It's like a dream while I'm wide awake.

-Dream or nightmare?

-Both, Donnie admitted. After all King…

-Spanked you? Yeah, I know buddy. It's his way and he didn't hurt you, right? Just got your attention quite effectively.

-Pretty sure he'd never hurt me.

-Just pretty? James asked with raised eyebrows.

-Okay, I know he'll never hurt me intentionally.

-Donnie-boy. I know you are hurt, but remember neither he nor Chris did it intentionally. To be honest I didn't realize what was going on myself. Especially since you and I are pretty close I just never thought...

-It has nothing to do with that dad! Donnie exclaimed immediately. I just wanted to know how it would feel to have King care and look out for me the same way as he did for Nate.

-Good to know kiddo. Something more you want to share with me before going downstairs?

-King…he said that if he thought I believed it he'd make me a promise to always be there for me and today he told me to stop calling him Nate's mentor, that he was as much mine now.

-Sounds great buddy. You know he really means it.

-Are you sure?

-Yeah buddy, I've known him long enough to say that I am. Once King makes a promise he keeps it, so congratulations to your mentor kid. He's a really great one and he'll be here 'til the end Donnie, you can count on that.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Sorry guys! I really didn't mean to disappear like that but life just caught up with me and I made myself a promise for this Christmas, a promise I am intending to keep and that unfortunately involves so much writing that I'm not always up to writing more afterwards, but I'll try. I'm back now guys, hopefully for good!**

-I'm sorry. The apology was quiet but Donnie knew Chris had heard it.

-It's okay kid. As long as you start being honest with me. Donnie grimaced but nodded rather reluctantly his agreement.

-So kid, me and Chris went over your conversation to pinpoint where things started going bad and I think Chris has some things to explain.

-When we first got to know your brother you were pretty young, at that point your brother needed us more for many reasons. Overtime though you grew on us kid, we started hanging out around the house so we'd be able to check on YOU as well from time to time. When Nate got deployed work got really busy and when 2 months had gone by and I hadn't heard from you, I thought you had forgotten, or just were too busy to come by.

-So it's my own fault then, nice to know that I'm an idiot, not that I already suspected it! Donnie spat angrily to hide the hurt he felt over Chris putting all the blame on him.

-Donnie! His dad's voice was low, highly disapproving and caught Donnie off guard who blushed and looked down having totally forgotten his dad was in the room.

-It's both of ours. And don't you dare ever call yourself an idiot again!

-You sound just like King, Donnie stated unhappily.

-I know. Not really weird since he taught me most of what I know. The room fell silent for a couple of seconds before Chris raised up from his chair and took a strong hold of Donnie's chin, forcing him to look into Chris's eyes.

-I need to know kid that you truly understand that we all bear fault here.

-Sure.

-I don't need James to tell me that that sure came a bit to quick. Throwing a look at James and King he continued: Would you mind leaving us alone for a few minutes? If there's a problem I'll let you know.

-Are you sure?

-Yeah King, I think talking with James gave me a few points and that I'm ready for some brother time. Just brothers. James just nodded and shot Donnie a meaningful look, telling him to behave.

-Chris? Donnie asked uncertain when the older man started pacing in front of him as soon as the door to the kitchen closed.

-Yeah. The response was gruff and Donnie was momentarily taken aback by the response. Last time he had seen Chris this angry was when he had told the man he didn't grow up around them, Nate did.

-You're scaring me.

-Good. Donnie shut up at that biting his lip and tried to avert his gaze when Chris suddenly stopped but a hard tap to his chin had him meeting Chris's gaze again in no time.

-Why do you keep on lying to me?

-I'm not lying. Chris had him on his feet in seconds and applied three swift SWATs to his backside. Donnie grimaced at the pain that blossomed, but just like with King, the few SWATs was really all he needed to brake the path he was on.

-I know you've went through most things with King already so I'll just skip that part but I need to know. Donnie why didn't you come to me?! King said you always wanted us there, so why not say anything?! All you would have needed to do was say one word and we would have been there.

-I don't know. Seeing Chris raising his hand he continued. I truly don't Chris, it was different with King, I was proud and stubborn and learned to do without him. You…I guess I didn't want to force you to be there for me, and a part of me kept insisting that if King didn't care there wasn't any chance you cared. The hug that followed the statement wasn't something Donnie had counted on but it felt nice. He hadn't hugged Chris in years and the feeling was really nice. Even back then the hugs had been few and far in between. When Chris finally let him go Donnie looked at him with big eyes, suddenly really uncertain around Chris.

-We always wanted to be there for you kid. Never doubt that.

-I kind of see it now, Donnie said, smiling shyly. What happens now though?

-First this. Donnie suddenly felt himself being turned sideways and five mighty SWATs land on his rear.

-You ever think you aren't good enough, or worth us or that we don't care you are looking on a lot more of where those came from. And now little brother, Chris continued, ignoring Donnie's pout, we are fine and I think you'd better fetch that paper for King and me to look over and compare to ours.

-You wrote one too?

-I will.

-Did King put you up to it? Donnie asked eyeing him suspiciously.

-He can do a lot of things kid, but not make me write something like that.

-You do know I can hear you Christopher! Came King's voice from the kitchen, making Chris grimace and Donnie chuckle.

-I guess I'll better fetch that paper.

-If you are done with it. Now it was Donnie's turn to grimace slightly. It's okay kid, just finish it, I think I'll work on mine as well while we wait.

-Bullied-the other side of the window-

-Want to tell me or show me?

-I'd rather show you, Donnie answered shily.

-Okay then, hand it over. King took it with out a word before wordlessly reading it through and passing it on to Chris and James. Donnie followed their eyes with his as they too read it wordlessly. His dad finally put it down and Donnie looked apprehensively at the three adults sitting in front of him.

-Good job son, King's smile was genuine and Donnie felt himself relax slightly.

-Do you have the second list? Clearly Chris wasn't swayed as easily. Nodding Donnie was about to pass it over to him when Chris shook his head. Read it kid. That didn't sound too appealing but Donnie did so anyway, knowing he really didn't have a choice.

-I should have told you.

-Told us what? Donnie openly glared at Chris now who in response just steadily met his gaze, annoying Donnie to no end.

-Told you how I felt, he mumbled. Told you everything.

-When?

-In the beginning, Donnie spat irritated. The subject wasn't his favorite and Chris's questions didn't really help.

-Donovan. Donnie flinched at the use of his full first name. King had yet to resort to it as a first warning, but his Dad usually did so Donnie wouldn't be surprised if King had picked that up during their chat. Their chat about him. The thought made him see red again.

-It's not my fault he asks stupid questions! He was fed up with all of this and just wanted it out of the way.

-Donovan James! His Dad's and King's voices unified was extremely powerful and Donnie sank down into the cushion more, desperately trying to make himself invisible.

-Last chance kid, then it's consequences, King said warningly. Donnie didn't think that sounded fair but kept quiet, not really wanting any more swats today. Chris's had left enough of an impact.

-Two. I should have been honest with you.

-Good. Meaning? It being King who asked that made Donnie stop himself from saying something he would regret and took a deep breath instead.

-I should have answered your questions truthfully and I should never have tried to hide an injury. When all he got was accepting nods he continued. Three. I should never have assumed your reasons for not being there.

-Good job kid. Now have these past days thought you anything? Anything at all?!

-I just told you.

-Let's go about it another way then. What's the most important thing you've learned?

-That you always wanted to be there.

-Good boy. Now I think it's only fair you get to hear our lists as well. Then we'll talk about the future kid.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Sorry guys that it has taken me so long to update all my stories. My computer charger has gone nuts. It makes my screen flash and won't work half of the time. When it does work it takes about 5 hours to charge so I can use it. It's driving me crazy but the computer charger isn't available here in Finland so I have to order it from Germany. That's why my computer time right now is limited. I'll try to get it though as soon as possible.**

-Nate! Donnie exclaimed shocked when the familiar figure of his brother suddenly appeared on the back porch. Donnie bit his lip and turned down his gaze, not sure where he stood with his brother. He watched apprehensively as his brother started closing in on him without a word, a million thoughts going through his head.

-Nate. The voice had his brother stopping dead in his tracks and Donnie sighed relieved. You have ten seconds to hug your brother and tell him you've missed him, then I want a word with you inside. Nothing else son, you hear me?! Just reassure him, King said in a quiet, deadly, tone

-Yes sir. As his brother once again started closing in on him Donnie could do nothing but just stand there, debating whether running would be a good idea or not. Nate saw the look on his brother's face and decided to do just what King had ordered him to.

-Donnie. The hand on his shoulder was as gentle as the voice and Donnie found himself being drawn into a bear hug. As soon as his nose smelled the familiar sent of his brother Donnie relaxed and couldn't help but hug Nate back as he felt the tears start running down his cheeks. As if his brother somehow knew, he drew Donnie even closer. I love you kid, never forget nor doubt that.

-I love you too Nate. He felt his brother once again tighten his hold for a few more seconds before gently stepping back and wiping away the tears with his thumb, making Donnie smile weakly.

-We'll talk later kid, right now remember what I said, okay?!

-Okay.

-Bullied-the other side of the window-

-You wanted to talk, sorry it took more than ten seconds, Nate apologized easily knowing from the one look King had sent his way that the older man was displeased with him.

-Yeah, sit down. What happened son?

-When?

-Don't play that game Nathan James, you know it won't end well and frankly you are too old for it. Sighing in defeat Nate rather reluctantly admitted:

-I was mad at him for hurting you so maybe I didn't explain things, I didn't know he'd break down though. The disappointed eyes quickly had Nate turning his gaze down. Okay so maybe I knew it would shake him a bit, but not that much. We were talking and he panicked and simply fell down.

-You know I'm disappointed. No matter the details the point is you wanted to hurt your brother. Look at me Nate. Nate felt like he was 14 all over again when he bit his lip and met the disappointed eyes.

-Sorry. It was barely a whisper, but Nate knew King had heard it.

-Not me you should apologize to.

-I know, I saw his scared eyes out there and wonder how I could push him that far. The hug calmed him down a bit, but not as much as I would have wanted.

-Are you surprised?!

-Kind of, Nate admitted.

-You shouldn't have been.

-I know.

-So how are you planning to fix this son?!

-I don't know, Nate answered in a small voice.

-Yes you do. Be the man me and your parents raised. With those words King left the room, feeling he had gotten his point across.

-Bullied-the other side of the window-

-Hey kid, Nat greeted calmly as he almost half an hour later made his way outside to Donnie. How about we sit down a moment? Donnie didn't answer just followed his brother over to the porch and sat down.

-We need to talk Donnie. The other day… I'm sorry. What I did wasn't fair. I was angry with you for the way you treated King instead of asking myself why you would treat him that way. I'm your big brother kid and I'll do anything to never see you scared of me again. I was stupid and I hope you'll someday forgive me.

-Okay. Donnie said giving his brother a quick nod.

-I'm really sorry I hurt you kid,

-I'm sorry I didn't tell you.

-Told me I'm a jerk?!

-Told you about King, I was just scared.

-Scared of me?

-Never.

-You can't say never kid. I saw the scared look in your eyes just a moment ago.

-I was scared I'd disappointed you.

-You didn't kid. I disappointed myself and about everyone I care about.

-Did King yell at you?

-No, but he did lecture me, the disappointment though hurt more.

-I know that feeling.

-Kid will you ever forgive me? Nate asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

-Already have. You were looking out for your mentor.

-In a way yeah, but I should have looked after you first and foremost.

-I'm getting a feeling Dad lectured you.

-You have no idea Donnie-Boy.

-I have a feeling I know big-bro, Donnie answered and hugged his brother closely. Nate responded with a smile and drew him even closer. When the two finally broke apart Nate asked:

-So, did you and King work it out?

-Yeah, even me and Chris after a while.

-What did you do? Nate asked sternly.

-Nate! Chris already punished me, we are fine.

-Aha. Still, what did you do kid?

-Pushed him a bit too far.

-Bet he didn't like that, Nate laughed.

-Not the least.

-Are we good now kid? Nate asked after yet a moment of silence.

-Yeah Nate, we are good.

-Thanks. How long are you grounded to King's place for?

-A few more days. Donnie grimaced.

-I thought you liked it here.

-I do and King is great, I just wish everything had happened a bit differently, Donnie answered rubbing his backside thoughtfully.

-He spanked you?! Nate exclaimed.

-Yeah, Donnie answered embarrassed. Chris did too. That made Nate laugh until he saw a face in the window.

-Come on kid, why don't we go inside and assure King we are fine before he decides to forget my age and do that to me as well.

-Okay, but could you maybe sometime tell me the rest of the story.

-When I met King?! Sure? Right now I'd do anything to make you happy kid, Nate answered with a smile and threw an arm over his brother's shoulders.

 **A/N: It isn't perfect, but I hope it still serves it purpose. I wanted Nate and Donnie to see eye to eye pretty quick so that this story wouldn't continue forever. I am thinking about a sequel though if you guys are interested. It doesn't end here but in a few chapters it is a possibility.**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Sorry guys, life has just been hectic but I do appreciate the guest reviewer that asked me to continue with this one, it always gives me inspiration. This story is nearing it's ending point ( I think, maybe ) and then I'll try to start working on what's going on with Nate and King and eventually a different story about Donnie.**

"Are you ready to face the music at home now, kid?", King asked gently, squatting down to look Donnie in the eyes.

"I think so", Donnie answered quietly, feeling quite nervous.

"Are you sure kid?"

"It's mostly mom." Donnie confessed with a grimace.

"I thought Katherine wasn't that strict." Chris commented, coming into the room.

"She isn't. But she's the only one I haven't faced yet."

"It'll go great buddy, just remember to behave." Pride assured him.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to you reprimanding me."

"You aren't supposed to."

"Yeah, that goes for me too."

"So can Chris actually you know…punish me, or was it a one time thing?" Donnie asked finally finding the courage to do so.

"Oh little brother, I have all the right I need."

"He can." King confirmed.

"So I have 5 people to answer to when I mess up?!"

"Yes." King and Chris answered in unison.

"Guessing I'll have to live with it."

"Yeah kid, you do. Now not that I want you out of the house or anything, but your mom hasn't seen you in a week and you start school again tomorrow, so if you are ready, let's go."

"Okay, bye Chris!", Donnie said, hugging the older man.

"It's not forever little brother."

"Yeah, the door is always open even if we are at the office, remember that."

"I will, thanks."

-Bullied-The Other Side Of The Window-

"Hey kid, I've missed you", Katherine greeted warmly as he stepped through the door with king's hand on his shoulder.

"Missed you too mom.", Donnie answered shrugging of King's hand and giving his mom a hug.

"Good to see you Donnie-Boy.", James greeted him, drawing him close.

"Good to be home Dad."

"Did you miss me at all?", Nate asked jokingly, but Donnie could see the seriousness in his eyes and couldn't even imagine what kind of lecture would be behind that kind of insecurity.

"Of course, Big Brother", Donnie answered giving him a tight hug as well before turning towards King.

"Thanks."

"My pleasure, remember our agreement kid. If I have to come looking for you things won't get pretty."

"Yes sir."

"Good boy, now settle things with your family." King gave Nate a gaze that spoke volumes, but Nate chose to ignore it for the time being and took his little brother's bag and started guiding him upstairs.

"Nate." King's voice was low, but not even Donnie missed the warning in it and turned questioningly towards Nate.

"Nothing to worry about little brother" Nate whispered. Louder he continued: "Later King." Donnie didn't need Nate's faster pace to get him moving faster, he knew that last comment wouldn't sit well with King and didn't want to be around the older man when he was angry.

"Are you sure that was smart?" Donnie asked once they reached upstairs.

"Don't worry kid, just be happy that you are home, I can take care of King later."

"If you are sure…"

"I'm sure, now why don't you take a moment to breath and then head on downstairs."

"What are you going to do?"

"It's better if you don't know." Nate tried to joke. "Seriously though, you don't have anything to worry about kid, except yourself."

"Okay" Donnie agreed warily, not entirely sure, but decided to take his brother's word for it right now.

-Bullied-the other side of the window-

"So kid, we have a lot to talk about." James said seriously, eyeing his squirming boy carefully.

"I'm sorry I didn't come to you." Donnie said quietly focusing on his knees.

"None of that Donnie" James said with a hint of sternness in it stepping closer to him and bringing his chin up. "

"Sorry", Donnie whispered.

"Good boy."

"Good boy?! I…I lied to you. Right in your face" Donnie cried, losing the last bit of control he had had over his emotions and James gathered his crying son in his arms and moved them both over to the couch were he sat the boy down on his lap.

"Too old" Donnie protested weakly, not fighting though when James only hugged him closer in response.

"Never Donnie." Katherine assured him caressing the back of Donnie's head.

"Sorry", Donnie eventually murmured and tried pushing away from his Dad's hold but didn't succeed.

"I thought we'd been over this before Donovan, you do not apologize for crying." His Dad said sternly into Donnie's ear.

"Yes sir", Donnie agreed and this time when he pushed away James didn't stop him, only choosing to instead guide him to sit in between his parents.

"Donnie-Boy. I really shouldn't have to say this but lying to us is never the answer and you should know it by now. None of us have ever appreciated it and it won't start now." It wasn't often James felt the need to lecture one of the boys for more than a few minutes, in fact he usually said all he needed to in a few words and gazes.

"I know, I'm sorry."

"Why did you lie to us?" Katherine wondered calmly.

"I felt stupid. I wanted King to care and when he didn't I felt like an idiot for ever thinking he could care. And I knew that if I told you and you told King he'd be forced to care, something I never wanted." Donnie tried to explain.

"Donnie-boy, nobody could ever force King to care."

"I get it now."

"You should have come to us from the beginning or Nate if nothing else, lying to us is never the answer." Katherine said sternly.

"I know", Donnie whispered.

"Good, make sure you really do know because if you ever lie to me again you wont leave my side until I'm sure you wont do it again. Understood?!" James threatened.

"Yes sir."

"Good boy", James praised and brought Donnie's head to rest on his shoulder.

"I'm truly sorry."

"We know kid and we forgive you and love you. You do know that?" Katherine said all sternness gone.

"Yes ma'am. Love you too."

"It still leaves us with your punishment, we originally wanted you to be grounded for a week, but King told us Tony and agent Gibbs will leave pretty soon so as long as we can fully trust you. You'll only serve two days now and the rest of the days when Tony's back home in Washington.

"Okay", Donnie replied sleepily. "Thanks Dad."

"You are welcome son." James felt Donnie's head start getting heavy and caressed the back of Donnie's head with one hand until his breathing evened out, then dropping a kiss to the top of the boy's head before lifting him up in his arms and carrying him upstairs.


	22. Chapter 22

"Good morning kid"

"King?!" Donnie stared shocked at the man sitting at the breakfast table with his parents sipping on a cup of coffee.

"Yeah kid, I needed to stop by so I thought I'd do it while I still had a chance to catch you, who knows what you and my nephew might do once school is out for the day.

"So Tony's coming back today too?!" Donnie asked excited ignoring the last statement for now.

"Yeah kid, I hope you'll keep an eye out for him."

"Yeah, of course. Wait, you said you were going to stop by anyway…"

"It's Nate kid, not you, so no need to worry, you aren't in any trouble. At least not yet."

"Funny, real funny." Donnie muttered. "Speaking of, where is Nate? I didn't see him upstairs."

"Out with friends according to his note." James said with a tone that let Donnie know exactly what his Dad thought about that.

"Don't take after your brother in that way kiddo. It's enough with one of you having a sixth sense for when I'm going to be around."

"Oh." Donnie didn't find anything smarter to say as the pieces started falling in place.

"As I said don't worry about it. Your brother and I'll work through this, just a word of advice on my part: I told you that hunting somebody down only makes me angrier…"

"So if I'm ever in any trouble the best thing to do is just to face it." Donnie continued with a smile, he knew the line by heart. Both Chris and King had made sure of it before they let him go since it was one of the new rules for him. Another one that went with it was regular checking in with both of them and to never be unreachable. They were just a few but King and Chris had figured that as long as Donnie remembered to check in with them, everything else could be solved then.

"Good boy. Now since your brother isn't here how about I give you a ride to school?"

"Really?!"

"Sure kid, but eat your breakfast first." The last words were spoken when Donnie was about to jog upstairs to make himself ready for the day.

"Yes sir." King ruffled his hair fondly when Donnie defeated sat down next to him, making Donnie smile brightly at him.

"And now since you have no reason to avoid me how about you and Tony come over to NCIS after school, he can give you a tour and you can get started on the homework. Then it's either take-out or dinner depending on if we have a case or not."

"I'm grounded."

"Two days." James chipped in with a tone that said that the matter was closed on that particular topic.

"Then come over when you are out and free again, okay? By then it'd be time to check in anyhow."

"Okay." Donnie agreed, ignoring the fact that it really wasn't a question. He knew that King was keeping him on a short leash right now, but it felt good anyhow since it at least meant that his mentor cared enough to do so.

-Bullied-the other side of the window-

"Donnie!"

"Hey Tony! How are you doing?" Donnie asked excited.

"Good, how are you? I see that Uncle Pride didn't kill you so I guess I can't go home and complain to him about it."

"Better than last week." Donnie grimaced. "I guess you know everything."

"It wasn't hard to guess what was going on. All Uncle Pride and Dad told me though was that you were going to stay at Uncle Pride's for a while and then reassurances that you'd work it out."

"No details?" Donnie asked surprised.

"Whatever you choose to tell me Donnie is as much as I will know. Chris and Uncle Pride won't utter a word without your consent."

"Good to know."

"All I want to know anyhow is that you and my Uncle are fine."

"Yeah, thanks by the way. I have a feeling you gave King a heads up since he all of the sudden seemed to realize everything."

"You aren't angry." Tony stated surprised.

"I was too proud to say what I wanted to and needed to say so no, I'm not angry with you. Thanks to you everything turned out great and I now have a mentor."

"That's great to hear!"

"How was camping?"

"Good enough for me to miss it when we head back home."

"When is that?" Donnie asked, suddenly painfully aware that one of his few friends wasn't here to stay, something he had been able to forget the past week.

"I'm honestly not sure. When Uncle Pride finally thinks I won't hide anything from him again I guess. "

"He's really like a dog with a bone at times."

"Yeah, unless you haven't figured it out yet the last thing you want to do is lie to him."

"Yeah, I got that message loud and clear. Tony? Do you ever come visit?" Donnie knew the insecurity he felt shone through but he frankly didn't care.

"Of course, Uncle Pride and Chris wouldn't have it any other way. Christmas break if not before that."

"Good to know."

"New Orleans isn't getting rid of me that easy and I hope I'll see you around when I get here, besides, I haven't been handed a date for our departure yet." The silence fell for a few minutes before Tony continued: "We should really head to class now, but do you want to come to NCIS after school?"

"I'm grounded for two days."

"We'll just have to do it on Friday then."

"Okay. Friday." Donnie felt a bit down after the conversation. Tony had by far become the best friend he didn't have and he was sad to see him leave even if it only was for a short while. Sure, he had gained Chris and King and would surely keep in contact with Tony trough them, but still. It wouldn't be the same thing without Tony around. He also knew that once Tony left Chris's and King's eyes would watch over him even more since they didn't have Tony to keep an eye on as well. Not that he minded incredibly much, but having five grownups with hawk eyes watching over him could become a little too much.

-Bullied-the other side of the window-

"You are crazy Nate!" Donnie muttered heatedly the following morning as he saw the amount of missed calls on the screen of his brother's phone. It had kept buzzing the last ten minutes so Donnie had finally made his way into his older brother's room to turn it off.

"What time is it?!" Nate groaned before suddenly jerking upright after a look at the alarm clock. "And what are you doing with my phone?! give me that!"

"Seven missed calls from King, Nate you are crazy."

"Might be, but right now I'd rather not face him." Nate muttered with a grimace.

"What did you do?"

"Sorry kid, I'm not going to tell you."

"Nate…"

"Donnie, I really need to get going. I'll work it out with King okay, just not today or tomorrow, I have other things I need to take care off first."

"You do know Mom and King decided that we are all going to eat dinner here tomorrow with Tony and his Dad?!"

"What?! Since when?!"

"Since yesterday, besides, running from him only makes him angrier."

"The rules huh?!" Nate asked with a knowing smile, stopping in the middle of his frantic search of clothes to take a good look at Donnie.

"King told me you had the same rules." Donnie said almost accusingly.

"I do kid." Nate reassured him. "And I will talk to him, I just haven't seen my friends in forever so I'm meeting with a few before going over to talk with him."

"Where?"

"Dream on kid, the last thing I want for you is to be put in a position where you have to choose between me and King."

"Why don't you just talk to him? Is it that bad?!"

"I'm sorry buddy, it's nothing terrible, I just wanted a couple of days with my friends and haven't checked in with King yet."

"I know you Nate it's not that easy. Is this still about you ordering me to pack my bags? I saw your look big brother, I don't even want to begin to imagine what kind of lecture would be behind that kind of insecurity."

"Whatever I got I deserved." Nate said, his tone showing he really didn't want to discuss it.

"You talked with King at least, have you talked with Mom and Dad?"

"I talked briefly with King yeah, and yeah, Mom and Dad aren't too happy with me right now, but I talked to them before I talked to King."

"Whatever this is about you'll need to face them sometime Nate, you can't keep avoiding them."

"Avoiding who?" James asked coming into the room in search of his older son.

"Nobody Dad" Nate answered quickly and pulled the first T-shirt he could find over his head followed by a pair of jeans that laid deserted on the floor. "I'm late so I really have to go." With those words he tried to make it to the door but was stopped by James.

"You aren't going anywhere right now son."

"Dad! I already made plans and I am late." Nate whined.

"Nathan."

"Dad, come on, you told me too keep my commitments, I promised to be there."

"Fine, but you'll need to check in with King before you go."

"I'm late, I'll do it in the car."

"Nathan James." Donnie winced at the disapproving tone. "Call him now or don't go at all."

"Yes sir." Nate's tone was defeated and Donnie watched his brother pick up the phone and dialling the number he knew by heart. Nate tried to hide the nervousness but Donnie could see it shining through. 30 seconds went without an answer and Nate ended the call with a look of relief that was impossible to hide.

"You go on, but you better answer King when he calls you back son and don't make any plans, King, Tony and Agent Gibbs is coming over for dinner tomorrow."

"Too late Dad" Nate yelled over the shoulder as he scurried down the stairs. Donnie saw his Dads expression darken and hurried out of the room. Whatever mess his brother was caught in he didn't want to be a part of it.

-Bullied-the other side of the story-

"Hi Tony, welcome to our place." Donnie smiled whole heartedly at his friend.

"Thanks. It's a beautiful home you have Mrs. Williams." Tony continued looking at Katherine and shaking her hand.

"Thank you, Tony."

"Welcome Tony, feel right at home."

"Thank you, Mr. Williams." While Tony was busy with his Dad Donnie smiled a little shyly at King as he made his way through the front door.

"Hi."

"Hi kiddo." The smile that King gave him was warm and Donnie felt himself being drawn into a bear hug before he could even react. Melting into the hug a bit more Donnie let himself let go of all the worry for his brother that had yet to show up, and instead focused on here and now. Holding on a bit longer Donnie finally remembered the rest of the people and blushing pushed away only to be drawn close again. "None of that. Everybody in this room is jus happy to see us happy. Something is bothering you and if I can hug it away I will."

"Thanks." Donnie mumbled once again melting into the strong arms. A few minutes later King didn't mind when he broke the embrace and found that the rest of the group already had moved to the back patio.

"Now, if this is about your brother and me…"

"I know I should trust you."

"And yet you don't so out with it."

"He's just being stubborn and I know he is doing all of this to not see you or my parents."

"Take it your brother hasn't showed up yet."

"No. He took off early just like everyday lately. Then he comes home as late as he can get away with without Mom or Dad getting mad. Not that he succeeded with getting away with it tonight, he's already late and Mom and Dad are already angry."

"If he doesn't show up tonight or calls me tomorrow morning I'll track his phone so don't worry buddy. I just wanted to give him the chance to come to me first."

"Okay."

"Good job trusting me with this Donnie. I know your brother doesn't want to talk but eventually he will have to."

"Thanks." With that the pair made their way over to the rest with King's arm around Donnie's shoulder.

"It was a couple of minutes later that Donnie heard the faint sound of a car pulling up outside their house and glanced at the grownups to check if anybody else had heard. Gibbs met his gaze and Donnie blushed, realising he had heard as well but decided to not call any attention to it. Ten minutes later the door to the patio opened and everybody's attention turned to the young man standing in the doorway. Nate tried to look relaxed but Donnie saw the nervousness and watched from the corner of his eyes his Mom get up and switch places so that his brother would be stuck between his Dad and King. Clearly his brother had seen it too as his eyes followed their mom anxiously. Visibly sighing Nate made his way over to the table where he first shook hands with Gibbs and then greeted Tony and Donnie before making his way over to his Mom who looked disapproving but greeted him with a small smile. After that Nate looked lost for a minute before walking over to his Dad and King.

"Hi." The greeting was quiet and Nate didn't focus more than a second on either man before sitting down and serving himself quietly. Gibbs was the first one to break the silence by complementing Katherine on the food but Donnie didn't listen as the table started small talking again, just watched his brother wince ever so slightly when both men put a hand his shoulders and squeezed them a little harder than necessary before King leaned close to Nate and whispered something in his ear earning him a quiet yes sir from his brother. Gibbs also realising that the two men had gotten their moment with Nate started asking Nate questions that he almost happily answered. As soon as both he and Tony had eaten Donnie asked if they could get excused.

"I'd like to show Tony around and maybe play a little football before dessert." Donnie explained.

"Okay. But be back in 30 minutes."

"What was that all about?" Tony asked once the pair made their way inside.

"Nate's been unreachable for at least a couple of days. I don't know what happened before I came home but Nate's been going out before my parents get up and coming home as late as he can get away with and on top of that ignoring King's calls."

"I wouldn't want to be in his shoes."

"Neither would I so I've tried to make sure I keep out of it. Not that it's hard since nobody likes to tell me things…but still."

"Sounds like a good plan. Is this your room?"

"Yeah." Donnie smiled and showed Tony into his navy-blue bedroom.

"Wow you could basically spy on everybody from here." Tony said, looking out through the window that was facing the big backyard.

"I have done it a couple of times, didn't turn out good though" Donnie answered. "Where is Chris by the way?" He tried to sound like it wasn't a big deal but could tell that Tony had no problem seeing through it.

"Finishing up something at the office, he should be here soon."

"Really?!" Right then the boys heard a knock on the front door and Donnie spurted down the stairs only to lower his pace when he came into view.

"Hi there, little brother." Chris greeted as Donnie opened the door.

"Hi Chris."

"What, no hug for me?" Donnie smiled and enveloped the older man in a tight hug that was returned just as tight.

"Have they eaten yet?" Chris questioned once they broke apart.

"Depends on how much time they've put on looking disapprovingly at my brother."

"Nate is here?!"

"He was a little late but he showed up. With Dads and Kings reaction that took some major guts."

"Well he shouldn't have broken the rules if he wasn't ready for the consequences."

"Chris, they really looked mad enough without you joining them." Tony said. "Why don't you join us playing football as soon as you have eaten instead.

"Good idea. I might actually just do that." While Chris greeted the rest of the people Donnie found a football and Tony started teaching him a few tricks. Only ten minuets later they were joined by Chris and a relieved looking Nate.

"How about we switch things up a little: Nate and Tony against me and Donnie?" Chris proposed. "This is the perfect opportunity for, you buddy, to get to know Nate a little."

"We've met." Tony answered a bit shortly.

"He won't bite you." Donnie said teasingly. "If it were me maybe, but he won't do anything to you"

"Would you like to test that theory buddy?" Nate challenged advancing on Donnie.

"No thank you I'm perfectly fine with Chris here." Laughing, Donnie spurted towards Chris and hid behind him.

"Nathan James, don't you dare touch your brother." Chris said in a mocking tone. Nate straightened up to stand at attention before he saluted Chris and answered.

"No sir. Never sir" causing everybody to laugh.

"What are you troublemakers up to?" Gibbs asked joining the group.

"Messing with Nate." Tony answered.

"Sounds good to me. Straighten up marine!" Gibbs roared in his best Marine officer voice, causing Nate to do so, not sure if the man was kidding or not. "Relax cadet, I just want you to explain the rules of the game so this one" Gibbs pointed at Chris "plays fair and according to the rules."

"I always play according to the rules" Chris stated trying to look innocent.

"Yeah right!" Tony snorted. "Your rules." Nate quickly agreed causing Donnie to laugh.

"Help me here Donnie, I can't help that we play it a bit different in Alabama, can I?!"

"Poor Chris, has to ask Donnie for sympathy." Nate teased.

"Shut up Trouble. Last time you only won with one goal and that was because King didn't like my tackle." Nate whistled low at Chris choice of words.

"Better not let King hear that brother."

"Are we going to play or are you five-year-olds going to bicker the whole time?" Donnie asked.

"Play." They both answered at the same time causing Gibbs to roll his eyes good naturally.

"Nate, rules." Gibbs ordered, making Nate compose himself enough to recite the rules so the game could begin. In the end Nate and Tony won and Chris as revenge picked up Tony and headed for the pool.

"Chris! What are you doing?! Let me down!"

"Foul!" Nate yelled following the pair along with Donnie. Chris didn't listen though, instead threw Donnie into the water before heading for Donnie. Donnie hid behind Nate thinking his older brother would protect him.

"Wait Chris. I have a better idea." With that Nate took a hold of Donnie's hands and nodded for Chris to take a hold of the feet. Once Chris had a good grip they started swinging Donnie sideways.

"I…2…3!" Chris counted. On three the pair let go and Donnie landed next to Tony in the pool, coming up to the surface just in time to see his brother being pushed in by Chris and then Chris being pushed in by Gibbs.

"You…" Nate growled and headed for Chris trying to wrestle the other man under the surface.

"Kids…" Donnie laughed only to seconds later himself being pushed under the surface by Tony.

"Tony…!" Donnie growled as well once he cam up to the surface. Tony tried to climb up but Chris had abandoned Nate and took a hold of him, throwing him into the air so he landed with a big splash next to Nate causing Donnie to head that way and in turn being thrown into the air as well before landing next to Chris.

"Your brothers aren't volleyballs!" James yelled laughing.

"Watch their heads!" King added.

"Forget them, dessert is ready and nobody sits dripping wet out here so you guys better head inside and at least find a couple of towels before joining us. Katherine's statement was followed by four yes ma'ams and a race between the four to get out of the pool first. The older brothers easily held their younger brothers back and in the end Nate reached the patio door first thanks to Chris that didn't give it his all, wanting the younger man to have an extra moment of happiness. Nate didn't seem to realise it but Donnie did and cornered Chris inside to gave him a bear hug.

"What was that for?" Chris asked taken off guard.

"What you did for Nate."

"No idea what you are talking about." Chris smiled winking at Donnie and headed to get his own towel.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

"Bye Tony."

"Bye Donnie."

"Don't kill him." Was Gibbs choice of words as the door closed behind them. Donnie saw his brother blush and King just shrug his shoulders. It had been decided that Tony and Agent Gibbs would head on to King's place while the rest would stay for a while to clear things up with Nate.

"I agree. Don't kill him. Donnie shouted over his shoulder as he made his way upstairs to finish his homework since he didn't have anything better to do anyhow. That had been nearly an hour since and Donnie was deeply engrossed in his own thoughts when his door suddenly opened causing Donnie to jump.

"Chris! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!"

"I knocked three times." Chris pointed out. "We haven't killed your brother if that is what you were thinking about."

"Thanks. I kind of like having a older brother."

"I hope you change that sentence to two real fast before I start taking offense."

"Two older brothers." Donnie corrected with a small smile.

"If it isn't your brother then what is on your mind. Something is clearly ghosting in there."

"I never said it wasn't about Nate."

"And me and King have a rule about lying, kid. Straighten up unless you want me to start counting."

"Sorry."

"I would hope so." It was King standing in his doorway now. Donnie blushed and looked down giving King the perfect opportunity to move to a spot right in front of him making Donnie jump when he continued. "Son, I believe Chris asked you a question."

"Gees King, I don't know how you do it but you are going to give me a heart attack moving as quietly as you are."

"The question."

"It's nothing." Donnie tried, earning him a raised eyebrow from Chris.

"Strike one" Was King's choice of words.

"It's stupid."

"Strike two, buddy."

"What?! I didn't say I was stupid!" Donnie protested heatedly, almost yelling. In a quick motion Donnie was propelled into the nearest corner and given three stinging SWATs.

"That's not fair!" Donnie argued turning around, not surprised when all King did was turn him around and land a few more stinging SWATs to his rear.

"Last chance buddy." This time Donnie stayed fuming in the corner. He wasn't sure why he was pushing them, but he was sure he didn't want them to know how much he was going to miss Tony. It just felt stupid and now he felt even more like a stupid kid. A tantrum in front of his mentor and brother wasn't on his bucket list. He felt tears behind his eyes and tried furiously to blink them away.

"King the air mattress is all set…what's going on?" His Dad, great.

"Okay kid, you can come out. Trying to make it look like he pushed the hair out of his face Donnie wiped the last tear marks from his face.

"Why did I put you in the corner?" With a quick glance at his Dad Donnie answered:

"I lost my temper. Sorry."

"How is corner time supposed to be served?"

"Quietly, with my hands along my sides and no leaning."

"Good boy, now can you tell us what's tormenting you?"

"Sorry, I can't." Donnie answered in a small voice.

"Can't or won't?" Chris asked closing in on Donnie. "Donnie, we had a deal." When Donnie still refused to answer James took Donnie by the arm and sat him down on his lap.

"Too big." Donnie muttered but leaned his head on his Dad's shoulder. "Come on Donnie-Boy."

"Tony's leaving soon." His answer was barely a whisper, but the adults still heard him. "And I know it's stupid because I'm 14 years old for crying out loud! I shouldn't be that dependent on one friend!"

"Donovan. Calm down."

"No!" Donnie yelled and tried to wrestle of his Dad's lap.

"Donovan James!" The tone of voice had Donnie sober up immediately and he blushed.

"I just feel stupid" he whispered.

"Well you aren't, remember what I said." Chris said sternly.

"I do. I just can't help feeling this way."

"Why didn't you tell us?" King asked, him and James settling Donnie between them on the bed while Chris opted to sit in Donnie's desk chair.

"The first time I realised he wasn't here to stay I didn't want to be near you, King, so I was just happy to not have any reasons to be at your place. Then last week I was too occupied with everything to realise it and now it was just the other day in school I realised it. It's stupid." Tony barely had a chance to react before he was hauled to his feet by Chris who bent him over his knee and gave him five hard SWATs.

"It isn't stupid if you care about it so get it through your head!"

"Yes sir." Donnie brushed away the tears that fell pretty freely now. The SWATs had started to add up and the emotional day had taken its toll on him. Chris who was the first one to see his tears and drew him into a tight hug. Starting to feel sleepy Donnie nestled into his big brothers arms a little bit more. Sensing it Chris led him over to the bed still wrapped in his arms and laid him under the covers since he already was changed into pyjamas.

"We'll talk more tomorrow." Was the last thing Donnie heard before falling asleep.

-Bullied-the other side of the window-

"Donnie! You have company!"

"I'm coming Mom!" Scurrying down the stairs Donnie abruptly stopped in his tracks once he saw who it was. With a careful look around the hallway Donnie descended the rest of the stairs with a scowl on his face. "What are you doing here?! I can almost guarantee that you didn't give your real name to my Mom because if that was the case she definitely wouldn't have let you inside."

"Relax, and how would your Mom know huh? Did little Donovan squeal after he almost wet his pants when he saw the legendary King?!" Donnie just stared at him surprised before opening his mouth to answer but was cut off. "Yeah that's right, Carl and the others filled me in afterwards. Not that they needed to, the whole community is talking about you."

"You have nothing to do here James so get out. I'm warning you."

"If that is how you're feeling now I wonder what you'll have to say in a second." With that James opened the front door revealing Carl, who stepped inside followed by two boys Donnie had seen in school but didn't know the names of.

"Get out. All of you. I mean it Carl."

"Oh, and what are you going to do about it?! We saw your big brother and King leave earlier and your parents are outside, occupied by our friend whose dog accidentally got loose."

"What do you want?! I haven't done anything!"

"Except screwed up everything."

"Just like your brother." One of the others with brown hair and green eyes agreed.

"Nate hasn't done a thing!"

"We'll talk about that later, for now, take our warning: stay away from NCIS, and I mean every single one of them. Tony, King, Lasalle, you name them, and you stay away unless you want a problem with us." Carl threatened.

"Why?" Donnie asked unfaced.

"Because smarty pants, if you don't we'll go after Tony again, and this time we won't be as lenient."

"Stay away from Tony!"

"See that is all up to you."

"What?!How?!" Donnie asked, feeling as if the walls started closing in on him along with the boys that now had him trapped between them.

"Two ways. First, you stay away from everybody that has anything to do with NCIS. Two, you help us with something."

"What would that be?"

"No questions. It's either that or we ambush Tony when you least expect us to. Your choice. Him or you."

"Okay. I'll do it." Donnie agreed.

"Good. And will keep our eyes on you. One word to anybody and Golden boy won't know what hit him. Understood?!"

"Yes."

"Have a good day Donnie. Oh, and this is for you." With that Carl threw a phone towards him that Donnie caught with ease. "Burner phone, that way we can keep in contact without you trying anything ridiculous. Keep it on you." With that the four made their way out the door, leaving Donnie staring down at the phone in his hands.

-Bullied-The Other Side of The Window-

"Hey kiddo." Chris greeted Donnie.

"Hey Chris."

"Are you okay? You sound like you are a thousand miles away."

"How many brothers do I have?" Donnie asked pointedly, wanting to keep his meeting with the other boys silent as for now.

"Two. I checked in with King about an hour ago and it looks like your brother will do just fine in a couple of days. About Tony, kid, as I said yesterday, you should have come to me. You don't keep your feelings bottled up around me or King, you know better."

"Yes Chris." Chris quirked an eyebrow at that.

"Yes Chris?!"

"Combination between yes sir and just Chris." Donnie tried to explain embarrassed.

"No comment." Chris stated, trying hard not to laugh. "To keep talking about Tony though, not to say you shouldn't miss him, but he'll be back around Christmas so it won't be that long. Besides with electronics these days you'll be able to video chat whenever I so kindly let you."

"You?!Let us?!"

"Hey! I can boss you around just as much as your brother, even more since I'm older. Understood?!"

"Yes Chris." Donnie said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, let's keep that for when you aren't in trouble. Real trouble though means real respect, just as with King, okay?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, how would you like to spend your day; with me or with Tony?"

"I…" Donnie stopped himself right before declaring that he'd like to spend time with them both. Carl's voice rang in his ears and Donnie hadn't had time to figure out what to do, so he simply answered: "I have lots of homework that I need to do, between worrying about Nate and wondering when Tony will leave I couldn't get much done yesterday."

"Are you sure you can't spear a few hours? It's Saturday after all, you have the whole day tomorrow. We could play football. I could even take you guys to the park."

"Thanks Chris, but if my grades start slipping I have five people to answer to."

"True. Still…is something bothering you kid?"

"I just really want to keep my grades good Chris."

"Having a hard time saying no to me, kid?"

"I really don't want to disappoint you."

"You won't. If you want some time to study, it's fine, just remember that I expect you to come to me if something is going on."

"Yes sir."

"Get to your homework little brother." Chris said, ruffling Donnie's hair when he turned to leave the room. "Oh, and I better not see those grades slipping, you hear me?!"

"Yes sir."

"See you on Monday kid."

"Yeah, Monday." Donnie answered uncertainly. Only a minute later he felt the phone vibrate in his pocket. Taking it out with uncertain eyes, Donnie eyed it suspiciously before taking a deep breath and flipping it open. One new message. Pressing the left button, the text opened, and Donnie was met with a picture of Pride's house. Zooming in on the window he could see Tony seemingly alone in the kitchen. "Remember our deal. You better not have told Lasalle anything." red the caption below the image. Swallowing hard at the newfound evidence that they actually kept tabs on both him and Tony, Donnie dismayed realised that he didn't really have a choice but to do what they wanted. The guys were clearly serious about hurting Tony, and Donnie had to admit that he was scared to once again be the reason Tony got injured. Besides, after what he had done to Tony he owed him as much. With shaking hands Donnie replied:

"I didn't say a word." Donnie almost hoped for a reply, but when none had come five minutes later he quietly slipped the phone back into his jeans pocket and lightheaded sat down on the floor burying his head in his hands. Deep breaths, he reminded himself. Just take deep breaths. King will understand. Hopefully.

 **A/N: For those of you wondering what's going on with Nate, I'm excited to share that he got his own story:** _ **Nathan James**_ **the first chapter is up now, and no, it won't just happen the same stuff as here and in Bullied. Nate has his own life, and right now his own troubles with King. There might be chapters or parts in the future that is Nate's POV of something that happens here or in Bullied, but I will try to not include too much of it unless you want me to. Anyway, please check out the story and comment if you like it! If you don't want Nate's POV on the latest chapter, scroll to the end and you'll see what happens with King. The second chapter of the story will be up really soon so have patience with it. Thankyou for the comments guys! They, just like you are forever appreciated!**


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: Sorry guys, my initial excuse was entering the twenties, the second one was stress over entrance exams to University and now the final one was writing this one about the double of the length it originally was. Hope you enjoy!**

They had played comfortably in the park for the past 30 minutes. Every now and then though Donnie could feel Tony's curious eyes on him, clearly wondering why they were at the park instead of King's backyard like Tony had proposed. Flinching slightly at the sound of a text message Donnie instantly relaxed when he saw Tony get out his phone. Just because he had talked the gang into letting him spend some time with Tony, so he wouldn't get suspicious, didn't mean that they couldn't change their minds if they wanted to.

"That was Chris, he'll be here to pick us up in five minutes."

"I live five minutes from here, I can walk, you know."

"Chris won't mind. Besides, he'll be happy to see you."

"Thanks for the offer, but I really think a walk in the sun will do me good."

"Donnie!" Tony called after him as he started walking away.

"Yeah?"

"What's going on?"

"Nothing Tony, it's just a nice day."

"Did you fight with Chris or Uncle Pride?" If it only was that easy, Donnie thought.

"We're all good Tony. I just want to walk home, that's all." Donnie tried to reassure Tony. Seeing the familiar vehicle pull up Donnie started backing away. "I'll call you later!" This time Donnie ignored Tony calling his name and slipped on his headphones to make it seem as if he wasn't ignoring him as well as Chris who had joined Tony by now, something Donnie realized by holding up his phone to get a view of what was happening behind him. Panic building when he saw Chris start jogging towards him Donnie started running as soon as he rounded the corner. Ducking into an alleyway and hiding behind the first dumpster he spotted, Donnie could only hope Chris hadn't seen him. He waited patiently for five minutes before sneaking back out onto the street and heading home, careful to remain in the shadows in case Chris decided to pick him up. It was with both relief and disappointment Donnie closed the door behind him a few minutes later. Sure, he didn't want to explain himself to Chris, but he felt that older man hadn't even tried to catch up with him. Chris was a seasoned investigator and should have been able to find him without a problem. Unless… Donnie stepped in front of the full-length mirror in the hallway, not sure what he'd find. If Chris truly hadn't been able to find him, what did that then mean?! Had he truly become that good at sneaking around?! Had he really changed that much in a few days?! Frowning at the sight of himself, Donnie turned his back towards the mirror before starting to tip toe around the house, carefully checking that neither Chris nor Pride had made it to his home during his walk home. Finally, seeing the study as empty as the rest of the first floor and only seeing his parents in the garden, Donnie sank into the nearest chair.

-Bullied-The Other Side

It was hours later and Donnie was shooting hoops in the garden, a habit he had developed years ago to get rid of tension. His parents were very aware of that so he had had to wait until his parents left to go grocery shopping. He wasn't expecting them back for at least an hour so he was freely enjoying himself, paying no attention to the technic. As focused as he was the sound of a approaching vehicle caught him off guard, especially since it wasn't a street people who didn't live there used and his two next door neighbors were on vacation. Peeking from behind the hedge around the property, Donnie caught sight of the familiar vehicle on route to his house. Cursing his luck Donnie ducked down behind the hedge and started crawling as fast as he could towards the backyard. Thanking his lucky stars that he had forgotten to unlock the front door when he came out earlier, Donnie kept crawling until he made it to a small hole in the hedge that had been there for as long as he could remember. Not hesitating the least, he crept through just as he heard the sound of a car door opening and slamming shut. Staying where he was Donnie had the perfect view of Chris Lasalle making it up the driveway and towards the front door. The knocking that followed wasn't unexpected, but what was, was the sound of a key unlocking the door moments later. Knowing Chris's intentions Donnie quickly got out his phone and texted his parents that he had met up with a friend and wouldn't be home for a couple of hours. Just as he had hit send the phone started vibrating. Chris was calling him. Crawling further away Donnie answered once he was safely hidden behind his neighbor's house.

"Hello."

"Hi kid, where are you?"

"Out with a friend, so I really can't talk now."

"Why don't I see a note then? And why was there a basketball deserted on the driveway?" Shit. The basketball. That little fact had slipped his mind.

"I told Mom and Dad already." Donnie quickly explained.

"And the basketball?!" Chris asked suspiciously.

"I must have forgotten it there when I realized how late it was, would you mind taking it inside?"

"How do you know where I am?!" the question caught Donnie of guard. "And how did you know I have a key or that your parents aren't here?!"

"They aren't getting home for another hour at least, and since you clearly searched for a note…"

"Okay kid, you win, but if something is going on you know it's better to tell us than us founding out. Besides, you should have checked in today, remember?!"

"Yes sir, sorry about that, and I'm fine Chris but I really how to go now. See you. Bye." Not giving Chris a chance to answer he ended the call and texted Sean, a longtime friend, to ask him if he wanted to hang out for a little while. Not fully lying would be easier for Donnie once he had to face his parents.

-Bullied-The Other Side-

"Hi, buddy, how was you day? I feel like I barely saw you" James asked as he entered Donnie's bedroom that night.

"It was fine Dad, I'm just really tired."

"Did something special happen?"

"Noup, it was just a normal day Dad."

"Who did you meet up with?"

"I think King has taught you a bit too much Dad." Donnie answered pointedly.

"Oh yeah, is my interrogation that annoying?" James asked, shooing Donnie further to the side so he could sit down onto the bed. Without any hesitation Donnie quickly nestled into his lap, enjoying the warmth and security he felt.

"No, but I have a feeling Chris talked you into it."

"He might have said something about you, or he might have called to rant about King for a bit." James answered, causing Donnie to laugh.

"He's just overreacting Dad. Sure, I forgot to check in face to face, but I answered when he called and you can see for yourself that I'm fine."

"Are you sure Donnie-boy?" Cringing inwardly at what he was about to do, Donnie opened his mouth:

"Yes sir."

"Good, just remember I'm here if something is on your mind."

"I know. I love you Dad."

"Love you more, son."

-Bullied-The Other Side-

Trying to hide from Christopher Lasalle got old really fast, Donnie realized as he once again ducked into the same alleyway as the last time. Tony had cornered him in school the same morning, asking if he wanted to continue where they had left of a few days before. Not having a proper excuse, Donnie had agreed to meet him later that evening, making sure he was late in case King or Chris decided to drop off Tony. The plan had worked and they had once again enjoyed playing until Tony had gotten a call. Pretending to feel his own phone vibrating in his pocket, Donnie had fished it out and pretended to talk with his Dad. As soon as the car came into view though, Donnie had sprinted off, not caring how it made him look, shouting towards Tony that he had forgotten about something. Those were the events that had left him yet again, hiding behind a dumpster. Holding his breath, five minutes passed before Donnie deemed the coast cleared. This time around he didn't bother looking before stepping onto the street, something he soon realized was a big mistake.

"Looking for me?" Donnie almost jumped out of his skin at the unexpected voice of his brother. Twirling around he saw Christopher Lasalle casually lean against the wall.

"Chris…I can explain." Donnie tried, but panicked when his brother only pushed himself up from the wall and summoned him forward with a finger.

"Too late." The second those words were out of Chris's mouth Donnie started sprinting the other way but made it less than twenty feet before colliding with somebody who took a firm hold of him, stopping him from falling. Looking up into the face of the one who had caught him Donnie wondered if he hadn't hit his head somewhere. At least he wished he had at the look King gave him, while helping him onto his feet. Frozen at the look Donnie could only whimper ever so slightly when Chris came up behind him and clamped a hand around his arm. "You're not going anywhere little brother, not this time"

-Bullied-the Other Side-

Sitting on the chair in the middle of the room, Donnie kept his eyes firmly on the floor, knowing the scowls that awaited him if he accidentally looked up.

"I didn't do anything wrong." Donnie stated heatedly once the silence became too much.

"Uh-hmm." Chris said looking up from the stack of paperwork he was working on, clearly not impressed with Donnie's statement.

"I don't remember us telling you that you had." King stated, coming into the room with two cups of coffee. "Right now, all we want to do is talk."

"About what?"

"First things first, why haven't you checked in properly for almost a week?"

"I did check in!" Donnie protested.

"Face to face?!" Chris challenged him.

"You never said I had to!"

"Strike one." That caught Donnie of guard.

"But I haven't done anything."

"Is that what you call running from me and hiding in an alley?" Chris asked. Donnie chose to not answer that, instead focus on the floor.

"Hey! He asked you a question, son, and frankly I'm starting to lose my patience here."

"It was a mistake, okay?!"

"Hiding from me was a mistake?!" Donnie shook his head.

"Then what?"

"I can't tell you." Donnie mumbled, causing King to squat in front of him.

"You can tell me anything, son. I can't promise not to be angry, but I promise you to listen. Whatever this is we'll get through it." Looking into King's kind eyes Donnie almost told him, but in the last second reminded himself that if King and Chris were here, then Tony was accompanied by only one adult, and that was in the best-case scenario.

"I lost the bracelet you gave Nate. I just slipped it onto my wrist to see what it felt like but forgot about it when Mom got home. When I remembered it, we were in the park with Tony and I panicked. I knew that if I came close to any of you I'd tell you everything as soon as you asked me a question."

"The bracelet I got Nate for his 15th birthday?" King asked.

"The engraved one, yeah."

"The engraved one?! Are you kidding me, son?! ALL of the things I've given your brother are engraved. Why is it at home by the way?"

"He doesn't want to lose it."

"Kid…" King groaned. "Of all the stupid things…this is something I'll let your brother take care of."

"Speaking of...hey Nate!" Chris said, answering his phone and putting it on speaker.

"Chris, did you find Donnie?"

"Yeah. He is here with us. Hey kid, humor me, could you check if your bracelet from King still is intact where you left it?"

"It's on my wrist as we speak, why?"

"No reason. Thanks Nate. I'll call you later." Chris said and hang up.

"Want to explain that to us son?" King asked.

"You never specified which bracelet." Donnie tried.

"I've only given him one."

"Stop playing Donnie, we know you weren't truthful." Chris said, the anger and annoyance starting to show through.

"Not fair."

"Maybe not, but right now I'm more concerned with what you are hiding."

"I'm not hiding anything, I just didn't want to talk to Chris, okay?!"

"Donovan James." Donnie winced at the tone.

"Come on King." Donnie pleaded. "It's nothing bad, I just wanted a break from Chris, that's all. Having five people to answer to is getting old really fast and I needed a moment alone, but I didn't want to disappoint Tony."

"That could have worked as an excuse if it only had been Monday."

"It's the only excuse I have." Donnie argued, growing tired.

"What do you say King, want to believe him?"

"Sure, but I don't think I do. Why run and hide if all you wanted was a break?!"

"I didn't see any other way." Donnie said softly, pleading with his eyes for King to believe him.

"Why did you lie to us? Why not just say it as it is, instead of trying to lie about it?"

"I didn't want to disappoint you. This was what I wanted, how could I come out now and tell you after everything you did, that I'm not comfortable with it."

"You could never disappoint us kiddo, your actions though…" King said, running his fingers through his hair.

"You really need to use that brain of yours more." Chris chipped in.

"I know, and I will, just please don't worry Dad, Mom or Nate."

"You lied to your Dad, kid, that's not something we can forget to tell him about."

"Chris…" Donnie whimpered.

"No, Chris is right, son. If it was me I'd want to know." King agreed. "But to make it a little easier, and to make sure you actually tell your Dad, we'll be right there with you." When Donnie just remained seated, not sure what to do or say, Chris prompted:

"I'd like to go to sleep tonight, kid, so start moving."

"Yes sir." With Chris's hand on his shoulder Donnie didn't have a choice but lead the way to the car and jump into the backseat, not being the least surprised when Chris chose to sit in the backseat with him. The ride home was silent, with Donnie staring emptily at the buildings they passed. When the car came to a stop Donnie wasn't surprised when he found his car door locked.

"Don't even try it." Chris said, the warning clear in his voice.

"Yes sir."

"Are you feeling okay, kid? Something is striking me as wrong here."

"I'm just tired Chris."

"That's usually what happens when you spend your time trying to ignore us, just ask your brother." At that moment the front door opened and Nate stuck out his head:

"Didn't expect you guys back yet."

"We need to have a talk with your parents."

"They are out back, talking. At least that's what I think they are doing. For once, I wasn't invited."

"Sorry to say Nate, but you won't be invited to this either."

"Figures." Turning towards Donnie he continued: "You saw what happened to me buddy, trying to hide from these guys is never a good idea."

"Yes sir." Donnie mumbled, causing Nate to approach him.

"What's up buddy? This isn't like you."

"I'm fine Nate, it's just a misunderstanding."

"Donovan."

"Nate, it's fine." Donnie stated with a tone that told his brother the matter was closed.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Donnie answered tiredly. "I just want to get this over with."

"Facing Mom and Dad?"

"Yeah."

"It will be fine buddy." Donnie just nodded, feeling the tiredness really starting to overwhelm him.

"King." Nate said and gave a nod towards a half sleeping Donnie.

"Let's get you to bed kid." King said and hosted up Donnie in his arms.

"Donnie-boy." James met them inside the door.

"He's just tired James, let him sleep it off."

"Okay. Sleep tight, buddy. I'll check in on you in a minute." That was the last thing Donnie heard before falling asleep in his mentor's arms.

-Bullied-The Other Side-

Donnie woke up to somebody staring at him.

"Nate!"

"Little brother."

"What's going on?" Donnie asked surprised over his brother's tone.

"You tell me. We both know you weren't truthful last night. King might have bought it but I know you better."

"Please Nate, just this once, let me handle it."

"Sorry little bro, I can't."

"Can't or won't?! Donnie asked heatedly. "This isn't your problem Nate! There is nothing you can do. For once, just accept it before you go and destroy everything again." Donnie clamped his mouth shut the second he realised what he just had said to his brother.

"If you had said that a week ago, it might have affected me. Now though, not even that can take my focus from the fact that you lied to King and no doubt are planning to lie to Mom and Dad."

"Like you never have."

"Not the point little brother."

"Stop calling me little!"

"What's going on Donnie?"

"I already told you to let me handle this!"

"And I already told you I won't back down."

"Fine! Mr. Trevor is really fond of Tony so after finding out that I bullied him, Mr. Trevor has been looking for excuses to pull down my grade as much as possible."

"Mr. Trevor?! I thought the old man was fond of YOU."

"Not anymore," Donnie stated bitterly. "Not that I truly can blame him, but I'm failing history. I figured that if I stayed under Chris's and King's radar they wouldn't bring up my grade if they met up with him. You know as well as I do that they are friends. The possibility was too big so I figured that the less Chris and King saw of me the better."

"One class?!"

"I'm failing Nate, that won't lead to happy faces. King's already had more than enough trouble out of me, just please Nate, keep this between us for now. I'll ask for extra credit assignments and work hard on them, I promise."

"You know how King feels about lying…but this time, I'll let you handle it. If you don't get extra credit though, let me have a word with him. I had him too a couple of years and went from trouble maker to the perfect angel, so he should remember me."

"Thanks Nate." Donnie smiled and hugged his older brother.

"Just try to survive Dad, buddy. That's all I ask for."

"I'll do my best." Donnie grimaced.

"Boys! Breakfast is ready." Echoed on the second floor out of the sudden.

"Time to face them kiddo." Yeah, face time. Donnie thought wryly. On the way out the door to his room he once again stole a quick glance in the mirror, not sure what he'd find. The failing part was the truth, he was indeed failing in History, but it wasn't the full truth, something he wouldn't have gotten past his brother just a couple of weeks ago. Looking away when he caught his own gaze in the mirror, Donnie took a deep breath and headed downstairs after his brother.

 **A/N: This wasn't what I planned, but I hope it still is okay. If Nate wasn't true to his character let's pretend it isn't because of my sleepy mind and instead because of the time he spent with King and Chris.**


	25. Chapter 25

"Morning Kiddo", James greeted his youngest with a small smile accompanying the soft tone. King had filled him in after he had tucked Donnie in, so James knew about the lies.

"Morning." Donnie answered, sitting down at the table and keeping his eyes on the plate in front of him, not being the least surprised when he seconds later felt a warm hand ruffling his hair and a soft kiss to the top of his head.

"We'll work it out, just eat your breakfast first, okay buddy?"

"Yes sir." That earned him another hair ruffle, causing Donnie to smile. Breakfast ended up being a far shorter affair than Donnie would have liked and barely 15 minutes later he was seated in his Dad's office, stealing nervous glances towards the door, wondering where his Dad was and if this was part of the plan.

"Sorry kiddo, King called and I needed to go through some things with your brother." At Donnie's questioning gaze, James continued: "Everything is fine between them, King just wants your brother to come over for dinner."

"Good."

"Now, how about you tell me what's really been going on." James said, leaning against the desk in front of Donnie and bringing the boy's chin up with two fingers. Donnie, with no other choice but to look in James eyes, flinched slightly at the disappointment, the two of them had always been close and disappointing his Dad wasn't on the list of Donnie's favourite activities.

"I'm sorry." Donnie apologized softly. "I couldn't tell you, not after everything."

"There is nothing you can't tell me, son. I love you, and that could never change, no matter what."

"I love you too Dad."

"Now that we have the reassurances done, how about you tell me your side of this."

"It just happened too much too fast." Donnie answered vaguely, cursing himself for what he was about to do.

"And there is nothing else to the story?!" James asked knowingly, making Donnie squirm ever so slightly in his chair, wondering if his Dad somehow had a sixth sense.

"Whatever it is I can handle." The words slipped out of Donnie's mouth before he could stop them.

"So there is more to it than you told King?" James asked softly.

"Yes sir."

"What, Donnie?"

"I'll fix it."

"Not my question."

"I can't tell you Dad, I know you would listen, but I need to try myself first." Seeing his Dad's expression, Donnie continued. "If it doesn't work out, I promise I'll come to you, please just give me a chance to handle this first."

"You'll tell me in the end?" It was a high price to pay for momentary silence, but rather that than putting Tony in danger once again.

"Yes sir, I'll tell you in the end."

"Good boy. You do know you'll have to tell King."

"What?!" Donnie hadn't taken that into consideration.

"Tomorrow, not tonight. I want your brother to have a nice evening with King for a change."

"Okay" Donnie agreed unwillingly.

"Good boy, now about lying to me Donnie-Boy, I had a feeling, but I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt."

"Then." Donnie knew.

"Yeah, then, and seeing the result it's the only time in the foreseeable future I will. I told you what would happen Donnie, do you remember?"

"I wouldn't leave your side until you could trust me again." Donnie, replied sadly, blinking hard against the tears that had threatened to fall the last few minutes.

"I'm afraid so kiddo, so last night I made a list of chores that you'll do. I want the list for each day done, before I even think about leaving you in King's capable hands. With only one week left, your Mom and I agreed that it would be a too harsh punishment to not let you and Tony see each other. If or when your chores are done, I'll drive you there or King will drop of Tony. No park or anything without either me or King."

"Yes sir."

"You lost my trust Donnie, and I know that is hard to hear, but that is the only place lying will take you."

"I know." Donnie whispered before biting down on his bottom lip hard to keep himself from crying.

"I don't like being this hard on you Donnie-Boy, but after the last few weeks, you don't leave me a choice kiddo." James said, rubbing Donnie's cheek gently.

"I know Dad."

"Good, now you can hug me if you want or if you think I'm a too much of a hard ass, your Mom is in the kitchen and Nate is upstairs in his room." James barely had time to finish the sentence before Donnie wrapped his arms around him tightly and sobbed into his shirt. "I love you, kiddo, more than you'll ever know and you'll restore my trust, it will just take a little while, okay?" Donnie answered by tentatively nodding. "My main job is to protect you buddy and take care of you. I can't keep you safe if you lie to me."

"I'm sorry."

"You're forgiven Donnie-Boy. Everything is fine between us, and when you feel ready to come to me, just say the word."

-Bullied-The Other Side-

"What are we doing here?!" Donnie questioned in a low whisper when the group stopped outside the NCIS headquarters. He had gotten a text earlier the same day about meeting the other boys for the favour he owed them for not hurting Tony. The group had started moving the second he joined them, but Donnie hadn't even in his wildest dreams thought they were headed here.

"Your dear mentor" Carl smiled evilly. "Has more information about us than we would like him to."

"About what?"

"Me." Carl answered simply. "And some relatives of them."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"We figured that you know a way in."

"No way." Donnie, answered immediately. "I'm not breaking into NCIS."

"You don't have a choice. It's this or Tony."

"You are all here, you can't hurt him."

"Do you honestly think we would be that stupid?! We have three people left behind, waiting for our orders, and as luck would have it, Agent Gibbs is currently out for a run and Tony, all alone." Donnie didn't know if he believed them, but decided he didn't have a choice.

"You'll only delete the files about you guys, right?!"

"Yes."

"Okay, but I'm not showing you the way in, I'll go and open the door for you."

"Don't try any tricks."

"I won't." Donnie rounded the corner carefully, knowing after a quick look at the clock that it was time for the shift change between the guards and that this would be a rare opportunity to slink inside without a problem. Sneaking as close to the wall as possible, Donnie was struck with the sudden realisation that there where cameras throughout the property. And just as quick as his heart rate went up it went down again when Donnie remembered that he had heard King mention that the cameras where too old to do any damn good and would be replaced within the week. Slowly Donnie crept towards the front door, knowing it was after all the best place for him to enter. If anybody saw him he could easily find an excuse for being there. Finding the front door locked Donnie used first the key and then the code that King had given him a few weeks ago. Hearing the soft click of the door when it opened, Donnie breathed a sigh of relief and motioned for the others to join him.

"Good work Rascal." Carl mused as he sneaked past Donnie, wearing a ski mask.

"Why is the light on?" One of the boys Donnie didn't recognise asked.

"Chris must have left it on when he left" Donnie shrugged, knowing his brother was eating dinner with both King and Chris at the moment.

"If you are sure."

"We don't have time to argue" One of the other boys said and headed for King's desk, settling himself down in the chair and getting to work on the computer. "Password." He then commanded. "I should be able to work around it, but it's far simpler if I know it."

"I don't know it." Donnie realised. Carl opened his mouth, but was beaten by the boy at the computer.

"Look I don't want to hurt your friend, none of us want to, but we don't have much time and if we get caught, Tony will suffer, so do us all a favour and try to remember."

"I truly don't know."

"Is there anything you can think of? You know the man…anything at all you can think of that he would use as his password?"

"Laurel. Or Nathan, or both."

"Good, I don't have many tries though, so try to think back, is there any chance you've caught a glimpse of him entering the password, anything you can remember?!"

"L, it started with L, but he also typed an N, I'm pretty sure of that."

"Is there anything he calls them, a way to combine their names?"

"Not Laurel, but he calls Nathan Nate."

"LaurelNate is too long, it needs to be eight digits." The boy realised.

"LaurNate?" Donnie suggested. "I don't know, I truly don't."

"It could work, but if it doesn't we'll have to do it the longer way." Donnie held his breath as the boy put in the password.

"It worked."

"Good" Carl took the command. "James, stay here in case anything happens, AJ, do you need a hand?"

"No, I'm good, just give me a minute to get into the database."

"Okay then, Rascal, is there an archive around here?"

"I think so, but I haven't been any other place than the squad room for years."

"Guess, we'll have to find it then. Move it. Will, you and Caleb are with us." Donnie started off in the far left corner, almost not believing his luck when he saw a staircase leading to a part of the headquarters he never had seen before.

"Is it down there?"

"No idea."

"Only one way to find out. Will, take a look." Donnie watched as the dark-haired teen started climbing down the steps carefully, as if expecting some sort of trap. A minute later he reappeared.

"Looks like it." Following the others down the stairs Donnie couldn't stop gaping at the sight of the big, dusty archive with rows and rows of bookcases filled with what looked like old case files. A few newer looking file cabinets had been placed in one corner and Carl headed straight for them.

"Locked."

"Let me give it a try" the one called Caleb requested, removing a pocket knife from his front pocket. The next ten minutes all Donnie could do was watch as they carefully went through the archive, removing a few files here and there, but the jackpot came from one of the locked file cabinets.

"Boss, I found it."

"Let me see." Carl nodded as he went through the files, clearly finding the ones he had been looking for. "That's it. Caleb, Will has yours as well as his own and these are going to make both me and my brother happy."

"Good, let's see if AJ is ready so we can get the hell out of here."

"AJ, how soon can you be ready?"

"Give me two minutes, It's processing the final transfer."

"Transfer?!" Carl asked, a dangerous glint forming in his eye.

"Yes, transfer. Deleting them here wouldn't be smart, not as long as the hard drive still is intact."

"He's right Carl." Caleb agreed, causing Carl to calm down a little bit.

"Still let's get out of here before somebody decides to show up."

"I would say it's a bit too late for that." The unexpected voice got everybody to scramble to try and get away. Carl and James both rushed to the nearest exit until they saw a police officer occupy it with a gun pointed at them. Will had rushed towards the kitchen, but hadn't made it far before bumping into Christopher Lasalle. Donnie rushed towards the second floor to try to get out that way, but suddenly lost his balance, when he was grabbed by the arm, and wrestled to the ground. Trying to buck proved futile but Donnie tried anyway and squirmed as much as he could. He couldn't get caught, he couldn't. Doing the last thing he could think off he started coughing violently, causing his attacker to shift a bit and Donnie saw his perfect opportunity as the person reached out towards his shoulder to steady him. Twirling his head around Donnie bit the man and as the scream echoed along with the curse-words Donnie shifted his whole body violently which caused the man to fall off him. Donnie wasted no time to start running, grateful that he still had his hood which kept his face hidden from his attacker. He hadn't taken more than a couple of steps though when he suddenly faced the floor again, the attacker sitting on his legs, effectively pinning them to the ground and within a few seconds Donnie felt cold metal against his wrists and heard a small click when the handcuffs where fastened.

"That wasn't how I wanted to do this, but you didn't leave me a choice." A growling voice in his ear told him. It only took him a moment to recognize it as Nate's and Donnie gave up the fight, he was doomed, there was no other way to put it, he was officially doomed. "I'm going to help you up on your feet and you are going to walk slowly in front of me down to where the others are. No tricks or so help me, I'll make sure you'll get the chance to present yourself to somebody who really could destroy your life, do you understand me?!" Donnie nodded miserably. A few seconds later the weight shifted, but Donnie stayed where he was until his brother grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet. "Now let's see who you are, so I know who I have to blame for the bite mark on my hand." Nate said as he yanked the hood off. Donnie closed his eyes as he heard the audible gasp and wasn't about to open them to face his brother. "Donovan?! I can't believe this. Stay!" The command was harsh and Donnie stood still as a statue while he heard his brother pace in front of him. Clearly coming to a decision Nate once more grabbed him hard by the upper arm and steered him towards the staircase. "You need your eyes for this part little brother." His brother said shortly. Opening his eyes Donnie was met with the sight of Colby pushed up against a wall, being searched, while Carl was pinned to the floor by Gibbs, whom Donnie hadn't seen in his haste to get away. Will was seated with handcuffs in front of Chris, while King still held AJ at gun point.

"Don't do anything stupid, son." King warned him. Walking down the stairs, Donnie heard AJ reassure King:

"I won't."

"Good, then raise your hands slowly." Watching AJ as much as he could while concentrating on getting down the stairs in one piece, Donnie noted that it probably wasn't the first time AJ had been arrested, at least not judging by his calm face and slow movements. "Everything looking alright from there Nathan?" King suddenly called up to them, causing Donnie to flinch.

"Yes sir. No weapon in sight." As soon as AJ had his hands in the air Donnie watched King advance on the teen he almost felt sorry for.

"I don't have any sharp objects on me" AJ said, causing Donnie to realise it definitely wasn't the first time."

"Move it." Not even having realised it himself Donnie had stopped and was forced into movement again by his brother's hand on his shoulder pushing him forward.

"King."

"Yes son?" King asked, not looking up from his task of putting cuffs on AJ.

"We have a problem."

"What?"

"Donnie." That caused King to finally look up and Donnie to look down at the floor, feeling the world crumbling to pieces around him.

 **A/N: The other stories are on their way, but still half written and my currently sick with the flu body only agreed to use its head for the easiest to write story, which was this one. And sorry for the cliff-hanger, the next chapter is being written as you read this and it shouldn't take that long.**


	26. Chapter 26

"Donnie?!" King repeated, not sure he had heard right until he saw the teen standing next to his brother, head down, the color of his hoodie the same as the person that he had seen running Nate's way. "Please tell me this is a mistake."

"It's not." Nate answered simply.

"Chris, Jethro, Nate. Get everybody situated, I need a moment." Donnie didn't look up even once as he was pushed into a chair next to AJ, the others lead away to different locations, where Donnie didn't know.

"Are you okay?" The sudden voice of AJ caught him off guard.

"No" Donnie answered honestly.

"So…King's your mentor?"

"Not that you have anything to do with it, but yes."

"And the one that was holding you?"

"My brother." AJ nodded his understanding before softly saying:

"I can see they mean a lot to you."

"You can't hurt them!"

"Hey! Calm down! Nobody's going to hurt them, not everything is what it looks like Donnie."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll know soon enough, but I promise you nobody is in any danger."

"How would you know?!"

"I'd like to know that too" King stated coming into the room.

"I've heard a lot about you."

"And you aren't the least afraid of what's going to happen to you? This is a federal building son, this won't just go away."

"I know."

"What's your name?"

"Afraid I can't answer that."

"What was the plan?"

"To delete certain files from NCIS's system."

"What files?"

"Anything that reminded you of their existence."

"Their?"

"Nothing I have to hide is in your database."

"We'll see about that. Where are the files?"

"On the memory stick on your desk and the paper copies are spread around the room."

"King, they are all situated, so what's the plan?" Chris wondered, giving both boys a hard look.

"First of, I want the name of this one since he doesn't seem to care about his future."

"No ID on him?"

"It would complicate matters." AJ stated simply.

"He is roughly between 13 and 18 years old, probably living in the area." Chris filled in the search criteria after snapping a photo of AJ who didn't protest.

"Archibald Jedediah Tucker, you can't be serious?!" King stated once he read the name on the screen. "Sixteen years old, I don't believe that either. Patton?!"

"He's not. That could probably fool most people, but not me." Patton said, rolling into the big room in his wheelchair, a tablet in his hand.

"Did he change it? He was sitting at the computer when we came in."

"He is good, but not that good so I digged a little further and…"

"Wait!" AJ almost yelled. "How much do you trust Donovan here?"

"Enough" King answered simply. "Patton continue."

"His real name is Asher Jayden Accardi, the brother of somebody you know pretty well by now."

"Gabriel Accardi."

"It doesn't end there. He started out as a CI and ended up as the youngest undercover member of the NOPD."

"That's why you couldn't tell me your name?!"

"Yes sir."

"How old are you son?"

"19." The answer rolled of the teens so smoothly that even Donnie believed him for a few seconds before taking a good look at the auburn-haired teen in the seat. It was no way he was 19, if Donnie had to guess he would have guessed 14, like himself.

"I didn't know he had a younger brother your age." AJ's answer to that was stubborn silence.

"Do you live with your parents?"

"Officially."

"And unofficially?"

"Detective Steven Daniels. My handler." That answer came just a bit more resentfully.

"Does he know you are here?"

"Yes sir, I believe he is expecting your call by now."

"Chris."

"On it King."

"You are a cop?!" Donnie suddenly asked. "And you didn't stop this?! You didn't stop anything?! How long have you been around?!"

"The son of a cop, yes. Do I work for NOPD? Yes. As much as I would like? No. I couldn't stop it Donnie, the only way to stop it was to catch them red handed. I've been around for a couple of weeks, maybe more."

"Three." Came the suddenly booming voice of one detective Steven Daniels, coming into the room with big steps. "Hope you don't mind company, I was on my way here to check on things since Asher hadn't called and had just been cleared at the gate when Chris called."

"Not at all. Dwayne Pride."

"Steven Daniels. I hope my boy hasn't been giving you any trouble."

"Not sure actually, do you mind confirming a few things?" Hearing that the detective leveled a knowing gaze on a now squirming AJ.

"His name is Asher Jayden Accardi, but it will change in 2 weeks once the adoption is finalized."

"How old is he?" Chris asked.

"Funny you should ask, that is the one thing that keeps slowing the process down, but as far as I know he is 16."

"You don't trust him to tell you his age, but you trust him undercover?!"

"He is the best of the best and he only does small jobs. I'm not putting my son in any big danger."

"Did you know the plan for tonight?"

"Brake in here to steal every document about themselves they could get their hands on, AJ would text me when they got here and I would call it in."

"We never got a call."

"No, which leaves me wondering just what went wrong."

"They left me up here with James, he doesn't trust me."

"You've found a way other times, son, so what's going on?"

"Nothing." AJ muttered.

"We'll talk more at home. Is there anything else King, you wonder about?"

"Not at the moment, this explains a lot."

"Did he keep his cool?"

"Even at gun point." King confirmed. Turning to AJ he continued: "You are free to go son, but I expect you back here if I call."

"Yes sir."

"Wait!" Donnie suddenly shouted. "You said that nobody is in any danger."

"He is fine, I alerted the rest a few minutes after we arrived that everything was fine so they could leave him alone."

"Him?" King asked confused.

"Anthony Gibbs, the rest isn't my story to tell, but Donnie, nothing would have happened to him regardless of the outcome, I would have made sure of that."

"Thank you." Donnie replied softly.

"Let's go son" Steve said after taking off the handcuffs. "I'll keep in contact in case there is anything you need."

"Thank you"

That left Donnie alone with Chris and King in the room.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

"Chris…"

"No King, I'm not backing down when he decides to do something this stupid!"

"Take some air Christopher."

"King…"

"Now Christopher." King's voice was low and telltale raspy causing Donnie to shudder slightly in his seat.

"You are going to answer to me as well, you hear me Donnie?!"

"Yes sir."

"First off, I want you to go over the rules with me, the ones we agreed on the first time." It was with a sad heart Donnie did so, knowing that King didn't trust him to remember them anymore.

"Number one, respect. Number two…" Donnie trailed off, not sure if he should bring up that one, since they had agreed to take it off the list once he wasn't in trouble anymore.

"Go on, number two is going to make an appearance every time you find yourself in trouble."

"Number two, I have to stay in your sight unless you give me permission not to. Number three, I have to listen to you and do as you tell me to. Number four, I have to look you in the eyes when I speak to you." At that point Donnie reluctantly brought his eyes up, getting him an approving nod from King. "And number five, you expect me to be honest."

"What other rules do we have in place Donovan?"

"I have to check in at least twice a week with either you or Chris. Chris is as much of an adult as you and therefore the same rules apply near him. When I'm at NCIS I don't touch anything outside the kitchen and bathroom without your permission."

"Good, now I thought those rules were clear, especially since you seem to remember them, but since they clearly aren't we are going to spend tomorrow going over them in detail. Now I haven't heard your side of the story jet and to be honest I don't think it's a good idea to go over it in length tonight. I won't punish you tonight either since that wouldn't be fair. I am though going to ask you a couple of questions, starting with: was it a coincidence that you were here?"

"No sir." Donnie saw the last bit of hope that he hadn't been involved vanish from King's eyes, causing him to use all willpower he had to meet the man's eyes.

"What was the plan?"

"To steal the files they needed, everything I needed to do was let them inside."

"Why?"

"They wanted them so you wouldn't have them…"

"No. Why did you do it?"

"I…They…" One quick look at King's face told him the man was fed up with lies and wouldn't count this time. "They said they would hurt Tony if I didn't do it."

"Hurt Tony how?"

"Physically. They sent me pictures of him alone in your house."

"Why didn't you tell an adult?"

"Because they kept tabs on us! They would have known the second I told you and there was nothing you could have done!"

"Hey! Calm down. I am not the enemy Donovan. How did you even keep in contact with them?"

"Burner phone." Donnie said, barely louder than a whisper. "Right jeans pocket." He wasn't the least surprised when King stalked over and motioned for him to stand before reaching for the phone and flipping it open, his features growing more and more angry the more he read.

"I didn't think I had a choice" Donnie continued quietly. "You were around, but I thought, I still think, that I owed Tony one week here of freedom, one good week."

"So you put yourself in this mess because you think you owe Tony?!"

"I owe him." That caused King to run a frustrated hand across his face before kneeling before Donnie.

"For school?"

"Yeah."

"What you did wasn't right son, but you've been punished and Tony has forgiven you. Everything is forgiven, you don't owe him anything anymore Donnie."

"But…"

"No. The only but you need to be concerned about is your butt if I hear you blaming yourself for that once more. You made a mistake kid and you paid for it. End. Of. Discussion. Do you understand me?!"

"Yes sir." Donnie answered reluctantly.

"Good boy." The soft tone accompanied by the gentle hand on his chin caused Donnie to relax a little bit. "I still love you son, no matter what you do, make sure you remember that."

"I do."

"Good, now is there anything else you'd like to tell me, any details about this case you'd like to share?"

"Is AJ really Gabe's little brother?"

"It looks that way kid."

"What happened to his…Shit, Dad, Mom!"

"What are you talking about…your parents don't know you are here so where do they think you are?"

"At home, in my bed, asleep." Donnie answered ashamed, focusing on the floor instead of King.

"We are going to have to call your Dad, kid."

"We?"

"Yeah buddy, we. Patton!"

"Yeah King?"

"Can you put on a video call through the big screen?"

"Of course, who would you like to call?"

"James Williams."

"On it, just give me a second. Okay I'll leave you two to it."

"Thank you, Patton."

"Dad?" Nate asked, coming into the room with Chris.

"Yeah, buddy. Your Dad needs to know." King said gravely, showing the boys just how little he liked the idea of making the call.

"I know."

"King? I was just heading to bed, is something wrong?"

"I just wanted to call to tell you that Nate is staying the night, and so is Donnie."

"Donnie?" James asked confusion clear in his voice.

"Yeah, Donnie." King answered and stepped to the side to let his longtime friend see his son. Donnie didn't look up before James softly continued:

"Donnie-Boy"

"Yeah Dad?" Donnie asked, the emotions making his voice raw.

"Are you hurt buddy?"

"No sir."

"Good. I don't know what is going on buddy, but it doesn't change the fact that I love you, okay?"

"We broke in." Donnie almost stumbled over the words, feeling the tears starting to fall and rose from his chair to get closer to the monitor. "We broke in here to steal documents, King caught us but I ran and I bit Nate and…and."

"Schhh, take it easy buddy." James instructed while Nate took a more physical approach and wrapped his arms around the distraught teen. Chris, with a nod from King undid Donnie's cuffs and the teen wasted no time in gripping his older brother's shirt like his life depended on it while his body racked with deep sobs. "I'm coming there, just take it easy buddy."

-Bullied-the other side-

"Buddy." James opened his arms wide and Donnie who had calmed down a little shot towards his father as soon as Nate released him. "Take it easy, we'll get through it." Sharing a look with King James scooped Donnie up and carried him upstairs to the spare bedroom and sat down on the bed with Donnie still clinging to him in his lap. Leaning backwards so his back was supported by the headboard, James kept mumbling reassuring words to his youngest. Suddenly seeing his oldest peeking into the room looking uncertain James smiled at him and motioned with his head for Nate to come and join them. Tentatively the older teen did so and as soon as he was within reaching distance James reached out and gently grabbed him by the arm, leading him into a position next to him on the bed. Nate reached out and started stroking Donnie's back comfortably until both father and son saw the telltale sign of Donnie drifting off to sleep.

"I'm proud of you Natey" James said, cupping his oldest chin. "I know I don't say it enough kiddo, but I am so incredibly proud of you."

"Thanks Dad."

"The way you handled the situation shows me just how big my kiddo has gotten. I love you son." James finished with a kiss to his oldest's head.

-Bullied-The Other Side-

Donnie woke early the next morning. Looking around he found his brother as well as his Dad sleeping next to him, both with one arm protectively around him, causing Donnie to smile until he suddenly remembered yesterday. Squirming out carefully from under the two arms, Donnie left the bed's other occupants sleeping while he tip-toing found his way downstairs. Smelling the coffee when he got to the top of the stairs he knew somebody was awake, but not who. Quickly scanning the squad room and finding it empty he came to the conclusion that whoever it was probably was in the kitchen or in the small yard connecting to it. Biting down nervously on his lip, Donnie descended the stairs just as carefully, but paused in the kitchen doorway to observe the lonely occupant.

"Morning Buddy" King greeted and turned around with open arms, heading straight for Donnie who in turn took a step backwards, needing to get everything on the table as soon as possible.

"I lied to you, not just about yesterday, but when you and Chris questioned me. Sure it's a learning process to get used to and at times it can be a bit too much, but it wasn't the only thing on my mind and Dad figured it out. He told me I would have to tell you even though he gave me the chance to fix this on my own. And I'm failing history. I'm sorry." With everything out in the open Donnie just stood there, waiting for King's reaction.

"That's quite the list of wrong-doings" King finally stated. "But I'm happy you told me Donnie."

"I'm sorry for everything."

"I know. Sit down Donovan. I want to hear the full story, but I'm pretty sure everybody else wants to as well so in the meantime you can get used to eating breakfast here."

"Am I grounded?" Donnie wondered.

"We'll see buddy." Donnie nodded his understanding before sitting down at the table across from King. The pair ate their breakfast in silence, King thoughtful and Donnie just nervous. The only interaction the pair had was when King went by him to fill his coffee-cup and at the same time dropped a kiss to the top of his head.

"Morning King. Morning Trouble Jr." Chris greeted them as he made his way into the kitchen. "I checked up AJ's story and the boy is telling the truth, the only question mark is his age."

"Good. Do you know how far Patton has come with checking the digital files?"

"As far as he could tell an hour ago everything was there."

"And the archive?"

"Haven't been down there yet, but unless somebody physically destroyed one of the folders, everything should be there. None of the boys left the building."

"That we know of" King said and turned his focus towards Donnie.

"How many were you?"

"Six, I think. Me, Carl, James, AJ, W..Will? I think one was called and they called the last one Caleb or Caden or something like that."

"Do you recognize them all?" Chris asked, his voice held an angry undertone to it, making Donnie shudder as the older man pushed a bunch of folders in front of him. Opening the top one he read:

"Carl Beaumont. He was the leader, everybody, including AJ listened to him." Opening the following ones he continued: "William Riggs, James Melton and Caleb Fischer. Yeah, it's them." Nodding, Chris scooped up the folders and put them on the kitchen counter before leaning with his arms crossed on one of the kitchen stairs, staring Donnie up and down.

"I'm sorry Chris."

"We'll talk later. Is Nate up yet?"

"No, he and Dad were sleeping soundly when I got up." Chris nodded thoughtfully at that and then kneeled next to Donnie and looked him straight in the eyes:

"You know we love you no matter what, right?!"

"Yes sir."

"Good boy." Chris straightened and ruffled his hair fondly. "I'll go wake up sleeping beauty at least, so we'll get this whole matter cleared before the lawyers start making themselves known."

"You haven't interviewed them yet?!" Donnie asked surprised.

"Most of the night, but it's been hard to press them without having your side of the story."

"I can tell it twice." Donnie proposed.

"No need, we are up. Some coffee and we are ready to go." James said coming into the kitchen along with Chris and Nate.


	27. Chapter 27

"It started last Saturday, Mom told me I had a visitor and left me alone with him. That was James. I tried to make him leave, but he opened the front door and was accompanied by Carl, Will and Caleb. They told me there was nothing I could do as Mom and Dad was occupied by somebody in the garden, I don't know who. They told me to stay away from both Tony and anything that had with NCIS to do or they'd hurt Tony. I also had to help them with something."

"The break in?" King asked calmly, but the disappointment was clear in his eyes. Forcing his eyes up long enough, Donnie answered:

"Yes sir." That done he wasn't sure were to continue so he kept his eyes locked at the table.

"What happened next?" James asked calmly, rubbing Donnie's back gently.

"They gave me a burner phone and then Chris showed up."

"Eyes up and focused on me!" Chris snapped heatedly. This part he wanted to hear loud and clear.

"Chris and I talked." Donnie started uncertainly.

"About what?" Chris prodded

"About Tony leaving, Nate and….and he asked me if I wanted to spend the day with him or Tony. I said neither."

"Why?"

"They told me to keep away. I didn't want to risk it, so I blamed my homework."

"You lied to my face."

"I'm sorry."

"Continue" Chris ordered, for the time being ignoring the apology.

"They threatened me again after you left and by then I knew that they were serious, so I started keeping my distance. It took me a while, but I got their permission to keep close to Tony. He suspected something though when we headed to the park instead of King's backyard. Chris was going to pick us up but I panicked and walked home."

"Straight home?"

"No sir, I hid in an alleyway behind some dumpsters." King nodded at that and motioned for him to continue. Gulping Donnie did so, knowing this was the one part they had no idea whatsoever about.

"Chris came by later"

"You were home." Chris stated, the pieces starting to fall into place for him.

"I saw you coming and panicked so I hid in our neighbor's yard."

"You lied to me. Again."

"I texted Mom and Dad. I even answered Chris when he called. I told him I was out with a friend and he told me I should have checked in. Realizing he wasn't happy with me I quickly said goodbye and hang up before texting Sean and asking him if he wanted to meet up."

"Who is Sean?" King asked, never having heard about him before.

"An old friend of mine, it's a long story."

"Okay then, back to your story."

"Dad interrogated me the same evening and I assured him I was fine. After that I tried to keep my distance to Tony, not wanting to push my luck with Carl. Tony though cornered me after a few days and I agreed to play football in the park again. I was late just in case one of you would drop him off and things went smoothly until Tony got a call from Chris wanting to pick us up and I needed to find an excuse to leave so I was pretending to talk to Dad when you guys pulled up and I panicked. I just run and…well you know the rest."

"Yeah. Me and Chris saw you sprint off and headed after you, telling Tony to stay put. By a chance Chris happened to see you jump into the alleyway just as we rounded the corner. So, we waited, wanting to see if it all was just some misunderstanding or if you really tried to hide from us. When you finally came out from hiding and saw Chris you would have taken off if not for the fact that you ran straight into me. Then at the office you lied to us, not once, but twice. Both times giving us excuses we were willing to believe. When the first one didn't work you played us with the one idea you knew me and Chris would fall for: you not being used to us being there." Donnie had to blink back tears when he heard King's voice go from disappointed to hurt. He'd never thought about it that way, he just tried to find any possible excuse.

"Is that why you asked about my bracelet?" Nate asked.

"Yeah your brother tried to give us the crappy excuse of losing your bracelet." Chris answered.

"Donnie…"

"I'm sorry." Donnie whispered, not daring to look at his brother. That meant he also missed the warning glares Nate got from both James and King.

"Dad…" Donnie continued taking in a shaky breath. "Dad figured out that it wasn't the full story and Nate did too. Nate insisted on me telling him what was up so I told him half of the story."

"Which was?"

"He's failing history. Mr. Trevor is fond of Tony and not so fond of anybody who hurts him." Nate explained, having taken the warning seriously this time and gone into big brother mode. James sighed and ran a hand through his hair before giving Donnie's shoulder a reassuring gaze, while he watched his two sons interact wordlessly. Nate, he assumed, comforting his little brother. When their silent conversation ended, James gave Nate a proud gaze, causing his oldest to look away and blush slightly.

"We'll talk about that later Donnie-Boy, don't worry about it right now." James reassured Donnie, carefully tilting his chin up to make sure he would do that.

"Okay."

"Why don't you continue?" James asked gently. Donnie nodded absentmindedly, not sure how he'd be able to keep going on the tale that already sounded so bad in his own ears.

"Dad gave me the chance to work it out myself on the condition that I had to tell him in the end. And I had to tell King the truth today." It seemed so crazy to Donnie that it was just yesterday their agreement had been made. "A few hours later I got a text with a place and a time to meet them, which fortunately was late enough for me to pretend to go to bed early and sneak out through the window. I had no idea what was about to happen or where we were headed when I joined them."

"How did you end up here?"

"We walked, they knew the way and when they finally stopped here they let me in on the plan. I originally told them I wouldn't do it, but they told me that Gibbs was out on a run and Tony was alone."

"If they were all here with you, there was no way to hurt Tony." Chris pointed out.

"They said there was three other guys left behind. I didn't feel like I had a choice, so I snuck in and opened the door. They stayed behind though! They didn't see the code, I promise! And I checked with them first what their intentions were, they were only going to destroy the files regarding them!"

"Calm down Kid"

"You don't believe me." Donnie stated, seeing the glint of uncertainty in the eyes present.

"It's not that we don't believe you Donnie, but one of them confessed to knowing the code when Chris pressed. He said that you had showed it to him."

"That's not how it happened." Donnie insisted.

"Are you sure? We'd rather know now than find out later Donovan."

"You can believe what you want." Donnie snarled, getting worked up-

"Donovan." King said, his tone unimpressed. Donnie just met his eyes stubbornly, not saying a word.

"Who put in the code?" Chris asked.

"Me."

"Any chance they could have seen it without you knowing?"

"I might have been stupid but I wasn't careless."

"Are you certain?!"

"No. Clearly I'm not." Donnie replied heatedly, angry that they didn't seem to believe him.

"So they saw you put in the code."

"If that is what you think happened, then that's clearly what happened."

"Two. Watch your tone."

"We got here, two stayed up here and the rest of us went down into the archive."

"How did AJ get into my computer?"

"LaurNate. Wasn't too hard to figure out."

"You told him?" King asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yes sir." Donnie answered, looking King squarely in the eyes.

"Who stayed upstairs?" Chris asked, seeing the tension building.

"James and AJ. They didn't trust AJ so James kept an eye on him.

"Who destroyed the lock on the file cabinet?"

"Caleb. Then you showed up and we got arrested. End of the story." Donnie knew he was pushing it, but he was angry and hurt that they didn't believe him.

"King, a word?" Nate requested out of the blue. Nodding and leveling Donnie with a last stern look, King followed Nate outside.

"You are pushing him too far King."

"Son?"

"He is ready to shut down, the fact that you took somebody else's word over his really got to him."

"I can't just let this go Nathan."

"I know Dad." Nate instantly clamped his mouth shut and turned away embarrassed. He had never in 8 years called King Dad and he hadn't meant to start now. That he thought of King as a second father and mentor wasn't a secret but calling the man Dad?!

"Hey King?! A little help in here?!" Chris suddenly called, giving Nate the perfect opportunity to get himself away from the situation. Gratefully he headed for the door that led inside, leaving his stunned mentor behind.

-Bullied the other side-

Meanwhile inside, Donnie tried to ignore the look his Dad gave him. Chris stood off to the side, clearly contemplating something.

"Donnie-boy, look at me." Donnie, knowing he didn't really have a choice met his Dad's eyes carefully, fully aware that his Dad just like Nate more likely than not had noticed something being wrong. Before his Dad could say something more though an angry woman stormed into the room followed by a timid looking man and the guard Donnie recognized from outside the building.

"Dwayne Pride, where are you and where the hell is my son?!"

"I'm Christopher LaSalle, King's partner." Chris explained with narrowed eyes. "Who are you?"

"Juliet Beaumont and he's our family lawyer. You have no right to keep Carl here unless he is under arrest!"

"Let me get King, he's just as interested in talking to you as I am." With that Chris walked to the door leading to the garden and opened it:

"King! A little help in here!" Seeing Nate come in first, looking relieved, Chris stopped him as he tried to pass and leveled him with a look.

"We're fine."

"Uh-hmm. We'll talk later little brother"

"Hello?! I'm on a timeline here!" Giving King a look, they both stepped through the door.

"Mrs. Beaumont." King greeted tersely. He had met both of her sons on more than one occasion and even though the older one had gotten his life on the right track again, he wasn't so sure the younger one even had the desire to do so. One thing he was sure about though was that the Mom in front of him wouldn't win any mother of the year-awards. She had a toxic tongue among other things and had a way of not holding her sons accountable to anything while her husband was away on business. He wasn't perfect either, but at least a bit better than his wife who cared more about social status than her kids.

"Where's my son?!"

"Carl is in the interrogation room right now, awaiting our return. We aren't finished with him yet." Shooting her lawyer an angry look the man piped up:

"How long have you had him here? If he isn't arrested, you'll have to release him soon."

"He is ma'am. And there is no denying it as he got caught on camera, as well as by us in person, breaking in here last night. If you want to leave your lawyer here that is fine but there is really nothing he can do for your son right now."

Nodding his understanding the lawyer asked for the necessary information which Chris agreed to give him while the guard showed Mrs. Beaumont off the property.

"Cameras?!" Donnie asked surprised. "I thought…" realizing what he was about to say, Donnie blushed and looked down at his hands. "Forget it."

"No. Please finish your sentence Donovan." King had taken a hold of his chin and looked at him with blazing eyes. Biting his lip Donnie tried to avert his gaze somehow, but a light tap to his chin caused him to turn his wary eyes back to King's face.

"You said that the cameras aren't working and would get exchanged next week."

"When did you hear that?"

"You muttered it a while ago and it just stuck in my memory." The comment made King look thoughtful and Donnie seeing it as King once again doubting his word, Donnie got stubborn. King snapping out of his trans gave Donnie a warning look.

"Do I need to keep counting Donovan?" Frowning at the continuous use of Donovan, Donnie muttered:

"No sir."

"Kid…" King used the hand that gripped his chin to rub his chin gently. "What are you thinking buddy?"

"It's nothing, you should really start questioning their stories."

"Three. Nate go see if Chris needs help. James, would you mind taking a look around the squad room and collect any loose papers I might have missed?"

"Not at all, come on son." James answered and guided Nate out into the squad room, closing the door to the kitchen behind them. When the others left King just stood there a moment looking at him, before sighing deeply.

"Why did I reach three?"

"I wasn't cooperative." It was the best he could come up with without telling the whole truth.

"In what way?" King pressed, knowing fully well that the young boy tried not to acknowledge the exact reasons.

"I was disrespectful and untruthful."

"I'm sure you have a reason, son, but we'll talk afterwards, okay?" Donnie didn't know what to answer so he just settled on nodding. His emotions varied from anger to disbelief to nervousness to determination and stubbornness. King seeing the emotions on Donnie's face decided that it was bets to just get it over with. Hoping that Donnie wouldn't put up a fight, King gently took a hold of Donnie's arm and guided him over his knees. When Donnie was, King settled on rubbing his back to try to relieve some tension before starting. "Are you ready?" Donnie nodded quickly, just wanting it over with. Five quick swats landed before King righted Donnie who had quiet tears streaming down his cheeks. Hugging the boy close, King rested his head on top of the blond mop of hair for a moment before dropping a kiss on it. Once Donnie had calmed down a bit, King released his hold of Donnie and was pleasantly surprised when the kid stayed where he was.

"Sorry." Donnie mumbled.

"It's behind us now, son, so why don't you tell me what caused all of that, huh?"

"It sounded like you didn't believe me" Donnie mumbled embarrassed.

"The code?! It's not that we don't believe you buddy, but mistakes happen."

"He couldn't have seen it! I snuck in in beforehand and told them to stay back, they just want to sabotage me! They know you are my mentor! The whole town is talking about us."

"They are?! None of their citizens have told me so" King said with a smile. "Does it bother you that they know?"

"No…"

"No as in not if I am bragging about you to everyone?!" King asked teasingly. Donnie smiled at that but remained quiet. "Anything else you want to share?"

"Why where you hear last night? I thought you and Chris were having dinner with Nate?"

"We were, but that's his story to tell."

"How angry are you?"

"Pretty upset Buddy. You breaking in here wasn't something I had counted on ever happening, and no, you didn't technically break in, but you let others in here which cause a dangerous situation. We had no idea you were here, Donnie. When me, Chris and Nate noticed that the door was open we never in a million years thought that it was six teenage boys. We had weapons drawn as you well know. One wrong move from either of you and we wouldn't have hesitated. All boys except you had pocketknives on them, did you know that?!"

"I knew that Caleb had one…he used his once."

"If one of them would have reached for theirs and we thought it was any chance of it being a gun…"

"I never thought of that." Donnie sniffed, fresh tears forming in his eyes.

"I know you didn't, but that was the first thing that came to my mind when I heard your brother tell me you were a part of it. That's why I'm so upset kiddo. You are like a son to me Donnie, loosing you isn't something I could bear."

"Looks like I've got a new brother you've forgotten to tell me about." Both Donnie and King snapped their heads towards the door at the sudden voice.

"Lauren?!"

 **A/N: Lauren wasn't part of the plan but here she is so we'll have to wait and see what happens. This chapter wasn't easy to write for some weird reason, but I hope you like it anyway! As always, any ideas you have are more than welcome to reach my muse!**


	28. chapter x

Sorry guys, this is just a test to check if I can update my story this way! my computer charger broke down and I have to order a new one from overseas so it might take another week for it to get here. Please let me know if you can see this! In case you can I'll make sure to try to update one of my stories tomorrow. I have the next chapter for The Other Tony on my computer so that story won't get updated until I get a new computer charger unfortunately...


	29. Bullied-The Other Side chapter 28

Donnie didn't even stop to think about it. He scurried off of King's lap and stood eyeing Laurel closely a few feet away. He also watched as King got over his initial surprise and stood up to greet his daugther. The moment King drew her into a close hug Donnie saw his chance and bolted out through the back door. Why, he wasn't sure, but he needed to get out of there. Unfortunately it wasn't long before he was stopped by a strong grip around his arm.

"Slow down."

"I haven't done anything."

"Why are you running then?" Donnie shrugged his shoulders. "Don't you think Dwayne is missing you by now?!"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Laurel showed up."

"Laurel?! Dwayne wasn't aware of that Donnie. He would have told me if he knew." Gibbs said kindly, but firmly. "And just because Laurel is in town doesn't mean he'll forget about you." Seeing the doubt plastered on the young face Gibbs motioned for him to follow. Hie led them back inside through the front door and up the stairs to a deserted office space next to the only bedroom in the building.

"Where is Tony?"

"Out with Chris." Gibbs paused for a moment. "Have you ever met Laurel before?"

"No. I've heard about her though from Nate."

"Does he hate her?"

"No! Nate could never..."

"Does Laurel hate your brother?"

"Not as far as I know. They haven't met a lot of times, but Nate told me she's nice."

"Then why run off?!"

"I guess...what if she doesn't like me?!"

"Pride won't throw you out if she doesn't."

"How can you be so sure?! Laurel is his daughter!"

"And you are his son in every way that matters."

"It's not the same."

"Why not?! Because she is his biological kid?! That's the most stupid thing I've heard from you. He loves you Donnie, just as much as he loves Chris and Nathan and Laurel. Nothing changes because she turned up out of the blue."

"She saw me being held like a baby."

"She saw me getting my butt kicked by my old boss, Mike Franks, the first time I met her."

"Really?!" Donnie asked intrigued. Seeing that he had sparked the teens interest he answered:

"Yes. I thought that she'd never respect me after that. But she did. Laurel won't judge you based on that. What she will judge you by though is if you hide up here the whole time she is here. Give her a chance Donovan."

"Okay." Donnie agreed after a moment.

"Good boy." Donnie smiled brightly at the unexpected praise and hairruffle.

-Bullied-the Other Side-

"We need to talk AJ" Detective Steve Daniels stated as he sat down next to the young auburn haired boy on their couch. Getting no response Steve reached out and snatched the TV-remote from AJ's unexpecting hands.

"Hey!" Raising a warning eyebrow at the response Steve shut off the TV and turned towards AJ.

"I said; we need to talk."

"I was in the middle of a movie."

"And I just got home from a 12 hour shift. Don't try me son."

"Sorry." AJ muttered.

"Why didn't you call me on your last job, Asher?"

"I didn't get a chance."

"You've always found a way to get me up to speed when needed."

"I already told you! James was watching me like a hawk!"

"And I'm sure that's part of the reason."

"It's the only reason." AJ muttered. This was the number one topic he didn't want to talk about.

"I've counted two lies to my face, would you like to continue down that road?!"

"No sir." AJ finally answered quietly.

"Why don't you try telling me the truth Ash."

"I couldn't call you."

"Why?" AJ shrugged his shoulders. "Do you trust me son?"

"Of course I do!"

"Then why not tell me what I'm going to find in this enevelope?!" Steve removed a white envelope from the innerpocket of his suit. At the teen's deer in the headlights look, he explained: "Patton traced your movements on King's computer. You never even touched the files you told everybody about. Instead you searched for something else. What?"

"If I tell you, can you not open the envelope?"

"Doesn't work that way Bud."

"Please."

"Give me one reason to trust you enough not to."

"I'm your son." Getting over his initial surprise at the statment Steve smiled despite himself and brought the boy in a close hug before dropping a kiss on the unruly hair.

"That might be the best argument I've ever heard, so go ahead. I won't open it. If I start suspecting you aren't telling me the truth though, I'll open it. So for both of our sakes; don't let it come to that. I trust you AJ, don't abuse that trust."

"Yes sir. I won't." _At least not more than I have to._

-Bullied-the Other Side-

"Hi" Donnie quitely greeted the father and daugther sitting at the table chatting.

"Hey Buddy. I think there is somebody you should meet. Donnie, this is my daughter Laurel. Laurel this is your little brother Donnie."

"Hi"

"Hi Donnie. Dad tells me you are Nate's little brother. I can see the resemblance."

"Yeah."

"How old are you?"

"14. How old are you?"

"27"

"Laurel was passing through New Orleans and got the idea to stop by."

"It's nice to meet you." Donnie mumbled.

"Honey would you mind giving us a moment?" King asked his daughter.

"Sure Daddy, I'll see if I can't find Chris being occupied with being lazy somewhere."

"Do that." Once Laurel was out of the kitchen King stalked over to Donnie and brought him into a tight hug.

"Are you okay Buddy?" At Donnie's hesitation King gently reassured: "You don't have to be. I'd rather have you tell me the truth than lie to try to protect me. If you aren't comfortable with Laurel being here, then it's something we'll have to deal with."

"I don't know her."

"No you don't, but she wants to get to know you. I wasn't the only one concerned when you took of. She worried that she had scared you or embarrassed you."

"She probably thinks I'm a baby."

"Far from that Donovan. And before your mind starts to even go there, she accepted Nate into the family with open arms, she's trying to do the same with you. I realize that I should have had you meet her sooner, but try to give her a chance Bud. She's not here to steal me away. Or kick you out."

"That's what Gibbs said."

"He has his moments. Are we clear now that nothing will change?" At Donnie's nod, King released him, but kept a grip around his shoulders. "I love you Donovan James Williams Pride. Nothing can or will ever change that."

"I love you too." King smiled at that, but his face turned stern again as he continued:

"Now about taking off..."

"I'm sorry I worried you."

"That's nice to hear but you can't take off like that Donnie, if Gibbs wouldn't have stopped you, where would you have ended up?"

"No idea" Donnie admitted.

"And that's what scares me."

"I won't do it again."

"You better try hard not to. But as an incentive to stay put you can plant your nose in the nearest corner." King gently turned him in the direction of one of the corners and sent him on his way with a stinging swat. A few minutes later Donnie got bored and started shifting the weight between his feet and eventually resting his head on the wall, something a loud cough had him stop doing immeadiately.

"I was going to ask how things were going but it seems like I'm a little bit late for the party." James stated as he entered the room fully, leveling his calm gaze on his son.

"Nothing big James so you can relax. Just hoping it can teach him a lesson about staying put."

"Staying put?!"

"Laurel showed up."

"Aahh. Do you have anything you'd like me to do?"

"Could you round up Chris and your older son, I think a little time with all siblings might just be helpful."

"Will do, but first, do you mind if I...?!"

"Go ahead." King watched as James stalked over to the young boy and enveloped him into a big hug.

"How are you feeling Donnie-Boy?"

"Better now."

"Okay enough to spend some time with the rest?"

"...yes" Donnie answered unsure, causing his Dad tighten his arms around him and growl lowly into his ear:

"Donnie-Boy"

"I'm not sure Dad."

"What if Tony joined you? Would that make it easier?" James asked after sharing a look with King.

"Could he?!" The small shimmer of hope in Donnie's voice was all the older men needed to hear.

"Of course."

-Bullied-The Other Side-

"Donnie! Tony!"

"What are you guys doing?" Donnie asked, stepping out into King's backyard with Tony by his side.

"Looks like Chris is trying out for the circus." Tony joked, earning him a glare from his older brother.

"Actually, Chris lost a bet." Laurel said with a big grin.

"Not my fault you've gotten better the last few years." Chris muttered.

"You placed the bet."

"She won fair and square." Nate chipped in from where he was trying to tie Chris's legs together.

"Don't even start Trouble. Miniature Trouble, could you get the ball? It's somewhere in the bushes."

"Why don't we change it up a bit and play elephant soccer instead?" Laurel proposed.

"Elephant soccer?!" The other four echoed surprised.

"Yeah, you know how Dad had his crazy yoga phase last year?! we could use his yoga ball as a enourmous soccer ball."

"Not a bad idea." Chris agreed. "We could use this game as training and play against the old people tonight." Nate snorted at that:

"Bet you won't propose it like that to King"

"I'm not crazy!"

"That's debatable" Tony smiled his megawatt smile to go along with the comment, happy Nate still had a firm grip of Chris's legs as the older man tried to wrestle free to get to him.

 **A/N: It's a bit shorter than usual, but I really wanted to end it here so you have somethig to look forward to in the next chapter. I couldn't help bringin AJ back into the story since I really like him and hinted about something in earlier chapters. Hope you liked it and as always your comments mean incredibly much to me! I can't answer them right now due to the app being the way it is, but I read every single one and that is what keeps me writing...**


	30. chapter 29

"Settle down Chris. Does anybody know where King is hiding it?"

"Probably in the basement." Laurel supplied.

"Okay then, who feels like taking a trip down there?"

"We'll do it." Tony offered.

"We?!" Donnie asked surprised.

"Yeah, have you ever been down there?"

"No."

"Then this will be the perfect opportunity."

"Have fun." Chris snorted.

"We will once you start tripping over your own two feet. Come on Donnie."

"Where are you going?" King shouted from the other side of the lawn where he was talking to Gibbs, James and Katherine.

"To the basement."

"There is a flashlight in one of the kitchen drawers, use it!"

"Okay" Tony shouted back.

"What was Chris so happy about back there?" Donnie wondered worredly.

"It's nothing bad. it's just a bit scary going down there alone since it's dark and full of stuff." Tony grabbed the flashlight and lead them to the door he had stepped through many times before. "Watch out for the third step, it's a bit loose." The boys slowly made it down the old staircase, both of them gripping the handrail tightly the whole way.

"King should really have your Dad fix these old stairs."

"Dad has proposed it a million times, but uncle Pride likes them the way they are."

"How are we going to find the ball in here anyway?!" Tony admitted that the space was far from organized and mostly consisted of dusty boxes stacked on top of each other with a few old bikes and other bigger items in between them.

"This must have been Laurel's doll playhouse at one point." Donnie mused out loud at his find of a purple structure.

"Probably yeah, but nobody but Laurel and Uncle Pride really knows." Tony pointed out. "Chris is not much older than Laurel so he wasn't around when she was young."

"True. Anyways where is the ball?!" Donnie had suddenly gotten really emotional at the thought that he could have had memories stored down here in another life. Moving a couple of boxes around, Donnie suddenly spotted two big boxes marked "Donnie". With growing confusion the teenager climbed over the boxes in his way and stilled just short of opening them, wondering if it maybe was better not knowing. Deciding that was all but true, Donnie pushed away the doubt and opened the first one. The sight he was met with wasn't one he was expecting. The box was filled to the brim with carefully rolled up papers, books and he even spotted a few toys. Removing one of the rolled up papers from the box, Donnie unrolled it to discover a picture he remembered drawing. He must have been about 8 years old at the time and the picture was one of him and King. Donnie remembered drawing it. It had been one of the highlights of that summer, being able to spend some time with King and Chris while his Dad was away. Taking out the next item Donnie found one of his all time favourite books.

"I hope it still is in good conditon. It looks that way, but let's take it upstairs and...Donnie?!"

"I'm here." When Tony joined him with the ball they were looking for, he explained: "I had no idea he still had all of this."

"I didn't either, but I'm not surprised. You mean a whole lot to him Donnie, you always have. I don't know the complete story but I've seen you and your Dad together. You two are close as can be so I can only assume Uncle Pride didn't want to destroy your relationship."

"I was too little to remeber" Donnie gave Tony the book he had been flipping through without any further explanation as to what his comment meant. Opening the book Tony saw the short note written on the inside: "To Donnie, August 4th 2011. Hope you have an amazing 7th birthday, Buddy. King and Chris."

"That's amazing. I'm happy you found it. Uncle Pride probably planned on giving it to you once you get older or even wait until you have kids of your own."

"Could I stay down here for a moment longer? Could you fix the ball on your own I mean? Just a few minutes."

"Of course." Tony took the box he needed under his arm and headed upstair in search of necessary supllies. Donnie barely noticed the presence of the older man joining him moments later, being too focused on going through the two boxes.

"I see you've found a few of my memory boxes."

"I had no idea you kept all this stuff."

"Wouldn't get rid of it for all the money in the world. I planned on giving it back to you one day, but I didn't think it'd happen until you had kids of your own." Donnie was about to answer him when King's phone interrupted the silence. Fishing the phone out of his pocket King shot Donnie a apologetic look and answered:

"King"

"Are you sure?!"

"Okay, I'll swing by with Chris and Jethro just to be on the sure side." Ending the call Kinh turned his gaze back on Donnie. "Sorry kiddo. Somebody has been snooping around the office so I have to check things out once it gets dark. I don't think anybody will attempt anything before then."

"Do you know who it is?!"

"No, but don't worry, we'll be careful."

-Bullied-

"Okay so these are the teams: Donnie, Chris and Laurel vs Tony and me" Nate announced.

"Sounds good to me."

"You mean I actually have to suffer from Chris's bad choices and hav him as my teammate?!" Laurel asked teasingly.

"Wrong, you get two amazing football players instead of one."

"That's true. I hope you are better at this than a one legged Chris, and if not, just keep blaming him."

"Hey!" Chris reacted trying to sound hurt but failing miserably.

"He's better than a two legged Chris." Nate assured her with a smile towards his brother.

"Come on then, let's get started." They all agreed on Tony starting the game off, which he did with a pass to Nate who with a bit off trouble got control over the big, bouncy ball and rushed forward with it until he met a jumping Chris. Both tried kicking the ball at the same time twice, so Nate settled on putting all pressure he could on the ball which caused Chris to fall backwards and Nate passed the ball to Tony who immeadiately got attacked by Laurel. Nate on his way to help suddenly felt his foot get caught and the next thing he knew he stumbled to the ground.

"Chris!"

"Don't worry Big Brother, I'm sure you'll gt your chance. Next year." Donnie teased as he spurted by with the ball.

"You little..." Laurel occupied Tony effectively and with Nate and Chris still on the ground Donnie made the first goal without a problem.

-Bullied-The Other Side-

AJ wasn't sure if it ever had been a great idea. Maybe people didn't break into federal buildings for a reason. Or maybe he was just stupid. Really stupid.

"Would you mind giving us a minute?" Steven Daniel's voice was calm, but that didn't fool anybody in the room. The green eyes of AJ's Dad-to be radiated of barely controlled anger.

"Take all the time you need."

"Thankyou." As soon as the door shut behind them Steven lifted the younger man up from the chair and bent him over the interrogation room table in one fluid motion. Not waisting any time he swiftly brought his hand down on top of the denim clad backside.

"Ow!" Bringing his hand down five more times, two of them on the kid's sit-spots, Steven righted AJ and took a good look at the squrming kid. Guilt was written all over his face. Sighing at what he knew he had to do, Steven stated gravely:

"Come on. We're going home."

-Bullied-The Other side-

"Asher Jayden Daniels" The highly disapproving tone had the kid wincing, but he still kept his focus on the ground rather than on the man in front of him. "Nothing to say?" AJ shook his head slowly. "King told me what happened when he called me."

"I'm sorry you had to come get me." Ignoring the statement Steve remvoed the white envelope from his inner suit pocket. Seeing the kid take a tiny step backwards he leveled him with a look.

"There are two choices for you Asher. Either you stay put or I handcuff you to the sofa. You have one chance, so what's it going to be?"

"I'll stay." AJ wanted nothing more than to run away from the highly disappointing look, but experience had taught him that he wouldn't make it far even if he tried. To emphazise his promise, AJ sat down on the couch.

"You abused my trust, son, so I think it's time to see what this is all about." AJ watched as the man's expression turned confused before turning angry and sad and in the end hurt.

"14?!"

"Yes sir." Steven paced a few feet forward and backwards while keeping a careful

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Because I couldn't. I have lived with that lie for years and I'd rather live a lie than you throwing me out for lying."

"I would never throw you out Asher. This does explain a few things though." At Asher's face the older man had to chuckle despite himself. "Oh you played your part good, good enough for me to almost believe you, but you can't entirely hide that younger part when you are with me. And I'm actually happy that you are 14, son. Even though I don't like that you lied to me, but it gives me a few extra years with you."

"You're okay with it?!"

"Yes." Steven answered simply. "What I'm not ever going to be okay with though is you lying to me."

"I'm sorry."

"For what exactly?" AJ winced at the tone but didn't protest the question.

"For lying to you. I hate doing it."

"That's good to know."

"I really do Steven."

"And I belive you, but that doesn't mean you'll get out of this."

"Are you going to bust my butt?"

"Yeah and there is some other things too to it but lets not talk about those at the moment."

"What other things?!"

"School for one."

"I've graduated."

"Uhh-hmm. Want to talk about that or punishemnt?"

"Can we not ever talk about that part?!"

"Noup." Sighing defeated AJ stood up but did so slowly enough to not cause Steven to think he was going to run. "Good boy. Loose the pants." It was with puppy dog eyes AJ did so. "You've lied to me for years son, it's not something I can let go with just a scolding" AJ sighed but lowered himself over Stevens lap tensing when an arm cirlcled around his waist. "I hate to tell you this son, but you'll find yourself in this position more than once the upcoming days. Today's spanking is for the break-in, then I'll spank you for lying to and disobeying me yesterday and after that I'll spank you for lying to me for years. In between you'll get one day off with only a bedtime spanking to reheat your backside a little bit. I'm sorry I have to do this son, but you brought it upon yourself. Besides, now that your age is clear, the adoption process will speed up and I'll become your Dad legally. If I'm ever going to show you how seriously I take that reponsibility I'll better do it now while you still have the choice of backing out if you want to. Even though I hope with my whole heart you won't."

 **A/N: Happy New Year guys! I wanted to leave one last mark on 2018 so this is it!May 2019 be the best year so far and I'll see you next year!**


	31. Chapter 31

"Are you okay?" AJ rolled over carefully to look at Steven.

"As good as it gets with a broken butt."

"Are we clear on why I'm doing this?"

"I'm pretty sure it's because you are pissed at me."

"No."

"What do you mean?" AJ pushed himself up on one elbow.

"I'm not pissed, I'm disappointed."

"Same outcome for me."

"You are right about that kid, but a lot less yelling."

"That's true."

"We have a few things to talk about."

"Shouldn't you head to work?"

"I asked the Boss for a few days off. Hawk will bring me up to speed once he gets home so I'll stay in the loop of things."

"Is he bringing take out?" AJ asked, voice hopeful.

"I wouldn't be so sure kiddo, he sounded pretty wrung out earlier."

"Does he know?"

"Not yet. Would you like to tell him yourself?"

"I don't know." AJ had huge respect for his self-proclaimed godfather. Hawk and Steven had been best friends, work partners and shared an apartment already by the time AJ came into the picture. At first it had been strange for AJ and hard to trust the man of few words, but Hawk had given him the time he needed to warm up to him and now AJ hoped Hawk would stay even when things got official.

"Think about it and let me know."

"Okay."

"When did you drop out of school?"

"I graduated early."

"Not that early, you didn't. I've known you for two and a half years kid, that would mean you would have graduated high school at 13 instead of at 15 as you led me to believe earlier."

"I went sporadically until I moved in with you. That's when I finally dropped out completely." AJ finally admitted.

"I don't think you'll be surprised by it, but you are going back to school one way or another and we'll get you tested before that to check where you are academically."

"I skipped Kindergarten and 4th grade, so I would have graduated at 16 if I would have kept going."

"That means you'll be a freshman, right?!"

"Sophomore. I'm two years ahead."

"Guess I got a genius to raise then."

"It comes easy to me, especially math."

"Well they are nearly halfway through sophomore year already so if you want to jump in there you'll have to work your butt off, but I'd rather you actually jumped in with the freshmen. You haven't gone to school in years Asher, realistically you are going to need to freshen up your skills a bit. And that is if Principal Loughead agrees that you are there academically."

"Yes sir." AJ bit out moodily. He didn't want to repeat his freshman year, but protesting now wouldn't do him any good.

"Let's see what the school says and how your test goes first, okay?!"

"Okay. When is the test?"

"Probably sometime next week. I'll have to call Principal Loughead to arrange a meeting."

 **-The Other Side-**

Donnie swallowed nervously. King had dropped him off at his request with a warning that Chris wasn't expecting him and might not be ready to deal with him. If he wasn't, Donnie would need to respect it and head home for the night instead. Raising his hand, he paused for a second before deciding to do it. The force of the knock startled him himself and he started to turn around and head back out when the door swung open.

"Donnie?!"

"Uhhh…Chris. I….uhhhmm, hi." Donnie finally managed with a hand awkwardly massaging his neck.

"What are you doing here little brother?"

"I don't know if you are ready, but I really hate it when you are angry with me. Whatever you are planning, I'd rather get it over with. I don't think I could fall asleep seeing your angry face every time I close my eyes.

"Did King deal with you yet?"

"Yeah. We are good."

"Okay." Chris stepped back to allow him entry into the apartment. "Call King and let him know you are spending the night. I'm going to fix the couch so you can sleep on it.

"Okay." Donnie whispered, fishing up his phone from his jean pocket and dialling the by now familiar number. After the very short conversation with King, Donnie stood fidgeting next to the couch Chris was busy preparing.

"Sit."

"Yes sir. Donnie obeyed instantly. This was by far the angriest, even though it was controlled anger now, Donnie had seen Chris and it was a bit scary.

"I've heard the whole story, right?!"

"Yes sir."

"There is nothing you haven't told us?!"

"I've told you everything Chris, I swear!" Chris held his gaze for a moment longer before putting down a note pad and a pen on the table in front of him.

"Okay then, this has worked wonders on both your brother and Tony before so I take it it's time for me to introduce you to a typical punishment from me. Doesn't mean you will get off as easy if there ever is a second time though, you hear?!"

"Yes sir."

"I want an essay on why you shouldn't lie to me and where lying gets you."

"How long?"

"Long enough. It's getting king of late, but you do have a couple of hours to get it done. If you aren't finished by 10pm you can continue tomorrow. Once you are done we'll talk."

"Okay." Donnie said quietly and picked up the pencil while form the corner of his eye watching Chris leave him alone to dwell on his thoughts.

 **-The Other Side-**

"Hi you two" Hawk greeted with a tired grin.

"Hi Hawk." Father and son greeted.

"Ash, why do I get the feeling you are in trouble, but trying to charm your way out of it?!"

"Maybe." AJ answered with a sheepish grin.

"What did you do this time, kiddo?"

"Don't you want some food first?"

"Asher."

"Fine. But you might want to sit down first."

"I'm listening."

"I broke into NCIS, got caught and they called Steven."

"This story sounds familiar."

"It was just me this time, I didn't get to finish the job last time."

"What job?"

"NCIS is the only one to have the knowledge of something I really didn't want to get out. Gabe mentioned me in an interview and it's the only proof I haven't been able to erase."

"Proof of what?"

"My age." Hawk shared a quick look with Steven, but didn't say anything. "I'm not really 16 Hawk, I'm 14."

"Good of you to finally share." Hawk said sarcastically after a long moment of silence. "And thankyou for giving me a heads up Steven."

"The boy wanted to tell you himself."

"And that sounded smart to you?! You had no idea how I would react!"

"I did know, you are always sensible. That's why we go together so well." Hawk looked at him exasperated and rolled his eyes.

"Fine. But next time he wants to drop a bomb at least give me some kind of warning."

"Does this mean we won't have pizza tonight?" AJ asked innocently.

"You just be happy I won't throttle you. What did your Dad do?"

"Broke my butt. He plans on doing it once a day for the next 4 days."

"Good. Then I won't have to lift a finger. And yes Asher, you deserve every swat."

 **-The Other Side-**

"Chris? I'm finished." Donnie spoke up tentatively from the couch.

"Put it on the table, it's too late to go though it tonight."

"Okay." The misery Donnie tried to hide must have shone through because next thing he knew the couch dipped next to him.

"Do you still remember what I told you earlier?"

"That you love me no matter what."

"Do you believe me?"

"This is the angriest I've ever seen you."

"It is?! I actually didn't know that."

"I hate that I messed up again. You've barely taken me in and I've already been in trouble more than I haven't."

"You are a growing kid. Besides, nobody can be more trouble than I was when I first got to know King."

"Really?"

"Really. Get ready for bed and I might tell you a story or two."

 **A/N: Sorry for the long delay. As always life is busy, but today I took the time to combine the scenes I've written during the past few weeks. Thankyou for your comments, they really get me writing. If there is something special you'd like to see in this story let me know, if nothing else it might give me inspiration for the future chapters. Thankyou for reading!**


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